What a year! 2020 was tough, wasn’t it? I’m sure most of us are looking forward to 2021 because, well, it isn’t 2020!
Circumstances have to get better, don’t they? They can’t get worse! Many people are pinning their hopes on something–anything–that’s new and different.
But folks have been doing that for a long time. Like the Greeks living in Athens 2000 years ago.
“For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” – Acts 17:21 (NKJV)
Boredom, frustration, emptiness–whatever the cause, the Athenians chased after anything that sounded new.
Not to rain on their parade, but that search won’t work. As Solomon observed,
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
This applies to the positive and the negative, what we’re looking for and what we’re avoiding. Nothing’s new in this world. We’ve faced viruses and pandemics; we’ve also celebrated breakthroughs and cures. The details vary, but the stories are similar.
So will 2021 repeat all the challenges we dealt with in 2020? Yes, but only if we leave God out. Let’s not make that mistake!
“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.” – Isaiah 43:19
Our problem is one of perception. God is doing a new work but He has to tell us because otherwise, we wouldn’t notice. A path in the middle of nowhere isn’t normal; streams in a desert aren’t common. The Lord provides these miracles for us but if we fail to pay attention, we won’t see them. Often, His work appears hidden.
“You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.” – Isaiah 48:6
The work God promises us will strike us as new, but to Him they’re old. His deeds have been around, but they’re out of sight, so we don’t know about them. And when we hear about the actions of the Lord, we suspect the stories are fictions. They’re not; God is God of the impossible.
His great work is to make us new.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
God cares about our circumstances, but what He wants to change is us. And that’s what the gospel is all about. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we become new creations. The old person dies and a new humanity emerges. Delivered from death, we enjoy eternal life, the life of Christ, a connection with God that never ends. We’ve become new.
But God doesn’t rest content with this. After He renews us, He then makes everything around us new as well.
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” – Revelation 21:5
God does things in order. First, He saves us. Then, He saves our circumstances. We experience His kingdom within our hearts and lives, but one day, we will see His rule all around us.
The Athenians spent all their time searching for new truth, but they kept coming up short. The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us what we most want and need: a new start. This can be ours, not because it’s a new year, but because of God’s new work in Christ. Don’t settle for the facsimiles of this world; instead, pursue Jesus.
Happy new year!
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