What's new?
My pastor started his end-of-the-year sermon with a very interesting statement (and a lot of what I’ll say is extensions of what he said): ‘there is nothing new or different about 2014’. You should have heard and seen the gasps and confused looks in the audience. He went on. 2014 is identical to 2013; it has 12 months, 365 days and 24 hours in a day, just like 2013 and the year before it. He then explained that no year is different from the other, the only difference is us, the people who exist within it. It’s not about what happens in a year, but what I do with that in that year. I thought this was pretty profound because as he spoke, I was reminded of something the Bible says which sounds quiet familiar.
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? I was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.
My mom always talks about fashion in this way. When leggings were the latest rave, and I was making a noise about it - as always - she pulled out a pic of her in red leggings and black pumps back in the eighties. What was worse is that she wore it better than I did. Nothing is new. Death isn’t new, failing isn’t new, falling into depression isn’t new, getting a job isn’t new, getting married isn’t new, graduating isn’t new, nothing that will happen in this coming year is new. It’s new to you because it’s only now that it’s happening in your time. The only new thing about 2014 is that I’ve never seen the year 2014 before, but 2014 has all the times and seasons of Ecclesiastes 3 just like the years before it.
This then helped me understand how unrealistic it is to wait for a year to yield me ‘new’ things. It’s the same old time, and if it’s happening to same old me, it will only yield the same old fruit. The only true newness that can come from this year is if I am made new. This year will only be different if my mind will be renewed to test and approve God’s will and if the eyes of my heart will be opened to see things in God’s perspective. One of my favourite Bible passages reads:
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16-17.
As much as the newness of the wineskin determines or limits the newness of the wine, this year is only as new as I am. So let’s stop fooling ourselves expecting new things, let us be transformed in our minds and do new things, speak new things and venture out into new things, only then will this year be new and different from any time you’ve seen. Go start that business, finish that college degree, take that roadtrip! The difference of this year lies in your hands, no matter what happens to and around you, it’s not new, only you are.
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? I was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.
My mom always talks about fashion in this way. When leggings were the latest rave, and I was making a noise about it - as always - she pulled out a pic of her in red leggings and black pumps back in the eighties. What was worse is that she wore it better than I did. Nothing is new. Death isn’t new, failing isn’t new, falling into depression isn’t new, getting a job isn’t new, getting married isn’t new, graduating isn’t new, nothing that will happen in this coming year is new. It’s new to you because it’s only now that it’s happening in your time. The only new thing about 2014 is that I’ve never seen the year 2014 before, but 2014 has all the times and seasons of Ecclesiastes 3 just like the years before it.
This then helped me understand how unrealistic it is to wait for a year to yield me ‘new’ things. It’s the same old time, and if it’s happening to same old me, it will only yield the same old fruit. The only true newness that can come from this year is if I am made new. This year will only be different if my mind will be renewed to test and approve God’s will and if the eyes of my heart will be opened to see things in God’s perspective. One of my favourite Bible passages reads:
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16-17.
As much as the newness of the wineskin determines or limits the newness of the wine, this year is only as new as I am. So let’s stop fooling ourselves expecting new things, let us be transformed in our minds and do new things, speak new things and venture out into new things, only then will this year be new and different from any time you’ve seen. Go start that business, finish that college degree, take that roadtrip! The difference of this year lies in your hands, no matter what happens to and around you, it’s not new, only you are.
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