What's So Bad About New?

What's so bad about new? Sometimes we shrink away from new things. Sometimes we regard a new product, event or person with suspicion. As the calendar turns at New Year's, it seems to remind some that they are another year older and that their resolutions were not kept. Yet, for another person it may bring about a time for fresh starts, new commitments and re-commitments. At any rate, a new year just happens just like the sunrises and sunsets just seem to happen.

In fact, new situations, new things and new ways are unavoidable. Everything was, at one time, a new thing. As children we learned that laying on our bellies was not sufficient. As soon as our necks were strong enough, we began innately to lift our heads. Soon we got up on our hands and knees and began to crawl. Eventually our "world view" expanded to rise above the floor level and we realized that "Hey, those big people walk on those two long sticks." Fairly soon, through example and coaxing, we tried out our own sticks and found that they were legs. And behold! We were doing something new called walking! There are other new ways, too. The new ways we have to deal with the world as we age. We can't quite put out the same energy as we used to. Our physical boundaries decrease. We lose hair, hearing and mobility. Lo and behold, we start to deal with the world in a new way.

Why is it that a new way can be viewed as negative, difficult or untrustworthy? Sometimes we pit the old and the new against each other as enemies. Yet old and new are not value judgments. They exist simply as facts of human life. Webster's dictionary defines "new" as “having been made a short time" or "made or become fresh." When we look at our lives, we realize that we are constantly engaging in new events and circumstances. This is because we are dynamic and flexible human beings. New things and new ways happen.

As there are two ways we can view or deal with new—either negatively or positively—we do have a choice. Negatively we might see new as something to be feared or avoided. There is always a sense of loss when we move into the new. That's just part of the whole picture. We may lose some comfort or some predictability or some relationships or ways of doing things. From this perspective, the new often seems to discount, discredit or disregard the old. There almost seems like a "replacement factor” in that the old gets thrown out and the new comes in. Just like the advertisements we see and read. Buy the new and improved car. In other words, sell your older car so that you can buy this new car.

A positive view of something new is the biblical view of newness. Philippians 3:7 reads: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. The context for this verse is Paul giving his list of credentials. Here he lists everything for which he could be proud and boast about humanly to gain authority in the eyes people. Here is his list that would certainly impress the Jewish audience to whom he was writing:

•  circumcised on the eighth day,
• of the people of Israel,
• of the tribe of Benjamin,
•  a Hebrew of Hebrews;
• in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 
• as for zeal, persecuting the church;
•  as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But Paul's emphasis was on the loss of those credentials for something new. There is a replacement principle here—and it is God's principle. The ways of Paul’s old religious life, although not necessarily bad in and of themselves—except if they had become dogmatic or legalistic—gave way to better and more fulfilling ways in the fullness of God. In this positive view of newness comes a freshness, a vitality, and a revitalization.

Experience is an interesting teacher. It can hold us back because we have previously experienced painful relationships and discouraging events. Or it can give us strength and courage because of new confidence gained. This is our experience with God. It teaches us that newness is something to be desired and even longed for.

Let's read together a few passages that reflect on what is new.

Ephesians 4:20-24

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Hebrews 10:19 -23

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful

The Apostle Paul knew all about this, as we read earlier, he penned these wonderful words as well.

Phil. 3:12-14

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

What is that prize? The person of Jesus Christ and the personal relationship with God through our dear Savior! We move out of some comfort into the God all comfort (2 Corinthians 2). We move out of some predictability to absolute knowledge of never being abandoned or forsaken. We move out of some old human ways into new Godly ways. 

Now we need to hear another passage about this new and better way.

Isa. 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

The biblical definition of new is fresh, the latest, blossoming flowers and new birth. Aren’t these the kind of things we would desire? The former things are those things which keep us bound. They are the old ways that are not God's new ways. But God does not call us into newness without any stability or promise.

Jeremiah 6:16 reads: “This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." At first glance this would seem to be a verse in contradiction with the idea of new. What is this word “ancient”? The original Hebrew word for ancient is not our common definition of old. It bears the meaning of eternal and everlasting. Newness with God holds within it the surety of the One who created you and me. He is called the Ancient of Days—the one who set the stars in place and spun the globe on its axis. As Hebrews 13:8 says, " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." And John 1:1-4 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was God in the beginning. Through him all things were made: without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” What this means is that the eternally existing God was in our paste and is already in our future. He knows all and sees all and is already there to greet us. There is no human-centered fear and there is absolute security when we walk with God. Outside of that relationship is a world of insecurity and chaos. 

Newness with God is filled with promise and security and hope. This is primarily because he is God. Our one sure foundation through all kinds of movement—from the worldly old to the new, and ancient and eternal, is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Beautiful verses were penned by the writer of Lamentations:

Lamentations 3:21-23
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Today if you have taken that step of faith into an active relationship with God, learn to live more fully in the light of God. Take heart, my fellow Christians! God is waiting for you tomorrow and the next day. He is there, the Ancient of Days, showing you the eternal paths of life and truth.

It you have not believed this yet, then step into His light today by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Friend. Embrace the truth of God through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. You will find such rest and peace, such hope and joy as you have never known while you follow the new and ancient ways of God.

Amen


M.R. Hyde
Copyright 2020