The Same Old New

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps.

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The Same Old New

Newness is business as usual with God, a fact we’ll be reminded of all this month. The “new” concept is built into the January system, reminding us as we get used to writing checks with 12 at the end, or buy day-timers, or collect year end data, that another cycle has started. And, of course, the inevitable What are your New Year’s resolutions? question will come, usually answered with a joke and a wince as we remember how quickly we dropped last year’s list. The ritual has a quirky “Been there done that” quality, accompanied among us older folks with a “Didn’t I just do all this?” bewilderment. My late father once told me that the more laps you run, the shorter a lap seems, and the more years you live, the quicker a year seems. Got that right. The new comes so regularly, and so often, that it’s the same old-same old. And there’s great hope in that.

God, who never changes, is nonetheless the God of the new. There’s nothing new about Him, to be sure, since the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9) is the same yesterday today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) So we can properly say there’s nothing new to Him, but lots of new offered byHim to us finite creatures: new life, new mercies every morning, new hearts, new starts (think of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and Saul of Tarsus, to name a few). The unchanging Father to whom nothing can be new offers to His very changeable children newness on a regular basis, knowing how badly they need it.

Because if God is the God of all things new, then we are surely the Lords of the old – old patterns, familiar habits, repeat cycles. Anyone who’s struggled with addictive or deeply ingrained behavior will testify to the hardness of change and the ease of slipping back to the old, since the old, like a good long nap, has its comfort, familiarity and lack of challenge. It’s an ancient problem; just look at Israel’s royal history as recorded in Kings and Chronicles. Chapter after chapter describes how King So and So reigned and did evil in the sight of the Lord, then died, and his son reigned and did evil, etc., etc. Bleak stuff, and if a soon-to-be king who wanted to do right let himself, he could get overwhelmed by his ancestral track record and say, in essence, “Why bother trying? No one really changes, and whatever changes they make are inconsistent. Better to yield to the old than reach for the new.”

I hear a lot of that sort of talk when people bring up New Year’s Resolutions. Better not to set yourself up for disappointment, many say, because you’re bound to break some/most/all of the resolutions you make, so why bother? And as a guy who knows how to break a resolution quicker than you can say “Flake”, I understand that thinking. But I also understand that’s it’s an un-Biblical, sloppy mindset, because it sets you up to aim at nothing and get, as the saying goes, just that. After all, if I set no goals, make no commitments, try no new ways, then I’m guaranteeing myself another year of the same sins; the same sloth. It’s true that I’m likely to break any number of terms I set for the New Year, but I’m far more likely to move ahead in life and holiness if  set them anyway, knowing the alternative is to celebrate the old and unprofitable, toasting to my flesh and saying “Happy Old Nature!”

What a rip-off, and how needless. Because I am indwelt by the Spirit of the God of all things new, who’s invited me to come boldly before His throne in the time of need (translate: every day) and expectantly petition Him for grace and help. He, unchanging, delights in offering change again and yet again, glorifying Himself when I allow Him to enact those changes in me, no matter how long I’ve stubbornly dragged my feet in the past. God is not interested in how many times I’ve committed to turn from old ways, but He’s very interested indeed in helping me embrace His new and perfect ways. I will apply that hopeful idea to my checkbook, body, thought life, speech and work, trusting fully in His ability to override my tendency to backslide with His strength to, like Paul, press on. (Philippians 3:14)

So, OK. I’ll make the resolutions. Unashamed (but a little embarrassed, I’m sure) I’ll pull out last year’s list, cut and paste onto this year’s list the resolutions still waiting for fulfillment, and, one more time, I’ll say “One More Time.” And in doing so I’ll remember that New Year’s resolutions are about Him and His abilities, not me and my inconsistency. I truly love my Behold I make all things new Father, and I’ll show that love by daring to take Him up on His invitation when He exclaims, yet again, Happy New Everything!