He Makes All Things New

It is a New Year and most people make New Year’s resolutions.  We resolve to change something in our lives.  We make goals to stick to our resolutions.  We fail.  It is rare that we stick with the resolution for the entire year.  I don’t make resolutions because I know that I will fail and I don’t like to fail.  Instead, the Lord and I have a tradition.  Every New Year’s I read my journal from the previous year and reflect on all the Lord did for me that year.  I thank him.  I also ask the Lord what new thing he wants to teach me in the new year.

See, the former things have taken place,
   and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
   I announce them to you. -Isaiah 42:9

I want to see what new thing God wants to do in my life.  I want to be aware of it.  I would like to cooperate with it, well most of the time.  

God is in the business of new.  He likes new things.  He really likes new people.  His word says,  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor 5:17).  His mercies are new every morning.  He promises to do a new thing.   Does this excite you?  It should.   Don’t we love getting new things; a new car, new clothes, a new haircut, new jewelry?  When we want something new we begin searching for it, asking for it.  Do we really want something new from the Lord?  He says, “For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it (Isaiah 43:19).  Are we looking for what he is doing?  Are we asking him what he is doing?  

We love the new, but we also love the old.  Sometimes we need to let go of, get rid of the old in order to make room for the new.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.  For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.    -Mark 2:22

We cling to the old.  The old is comfortable, familiar.  Sometimes we cling to the old because we are not certain if we will like the new.  God’s new is always better than the old.  God’s new is always good.  I did not say easy or fun, but good.  

I believe God wants to teach me many new things about His Grace in 2012.  I am excited about gaining a deeper understanding and knowledge of the grace of God.  I pray that my eyes will be open.  I pray that I will perceive.  I pray that I will allow God to pour His spirit in new wine skins.

What about you?  What do you perceive God is doing new?  How is he continuing to make you into a new creation?  Will you allow him to fill new wine skins this year?