Chasing The New Or Achieving Newness

“So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” ― Ephesians 4:22-24 (GNT). 

Well, we have set sail on a new year and a new decade. What seemed so remote only a short while ago is now history.  For the next few days, we’ll continue to pinch ourselves saying, “Is this really another year?” The new year promises all things new and that is good because we are fascinated with new. We want the best, the most up to date, the latest in innovation. In some areas of life, we long for newness. We crave the freshness of new.  But seeking after the new does not achieve newness.

Maybe it seems as if there’s nothing new to look forward to. Nothing new to feel excited about. But when we believe in Jesus Christ, no matter the year or decade, there is always something new in store for us. It boils down to our commitment to exploring this idea of newness. What does it really mean to be made new? And how do we achieve newness? 

The new is what God wants to do in you and through you. If you are somebody who is always looking in the rearview mirror, you will never see the plans and purposes of God that are ahead of you. It’s time to set aside former mindsets and failures. It’s time to let go of old hangups, habits, and unhealthy relationships and to subscribe to something new.  In order to live from this place of newness, we must also resist the temptation to return to our old ways. We can’t let past setbacks or painful memories continue to haunt us. When we dwell on those old things we can miss the new things the Lord is doing in our lives. He is the God who loves to make all things new. 

The Lord literally says He makes us a brand new being when we give our lives to Him. “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 6:16-17) And Isaiah 43:18-19 says, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”  

As we begin a new year, I encourage you to meditate on God and newness in Him.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does “new” mean to you in 2020” 
2. What can we do this week to achieve newness in Christ Jesus?