“there is nothing new under the sun.”  King Solomon declared this in Ecclesiastes 1:9 as he was lamenting man’s existence here on earth.  He went on to say, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; . . .  Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look!  This is something new?’ ”

I don’t think we are much different than King Solomon.  We are always looking for the next new thing to entertain us, to make us happy, to improve our lives; we don’t exactly know what it is, but we are seeking after it nonetheless – that ever elusive new thing that will change our lives once and for all, forever.

We are encouraged in our search for the new by the messages our culture sends us every day. Just read the captions on the magazine covers while you wait in the check out line at the grocery.  “Change your life in 10 days”,  “a new you in just 5 minutes a day”, “the secret to your total transformation revealed on page 12”, “3 easy steps to achieving your dream”, and so on and so on.  We are desiring something new but have no clue as to what that would look like or how to find it.

We also have no power of our own to create something new, that is reserved for the Creator of the universe alone.  God spoke and it came into being.  Fortunately for us, God is still making things new.  We just may not be aware of it.  “See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  (Isaiah 43:19)

God is able to make us new and to give us new life in Him.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  God’s makeover is from the inside out.  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  (Ezekiel 36:26)  A heart transplant from the Maker of my heart is just the drastic thing that I need if I am to be a new person.

How do I experience this new life?  I must die to my old one.  “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4)  It’s an ongoing process, but fortunately God never gives up on me.  I am told to ” . . . put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your (my) mind; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24)

I can’t do this transformation thing in my own power but I have this promise to sustain me when I feel more like my old self than my new self, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you (me) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 1:6)

Everyday is a new day as I walk by faith with Jesus as Lord.  He is the One who makes all things new.  “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ ”  (Revelation 21:5)  Allow God to make your New Year truly new.  He is the only One who can.

sincerely,      Grace Day