Have you ever watched one of those home rehab shows? You know the kind of show where someone buys a house that is rundown and falling apart. Then they sink some serious cash into fixing it up. And when it’s all said and done, you can’t even tell the house was run down in the first place. I do love watching shows like this. I love to watch old things made new. It’s very rewarding to be able take something that is broken and fix it, making it good as new.
As I sit at my computer this morning, counting the snow plow trucks going back and forth down my street, I keep thinking about this idea of old made new. With the amount of snow on the roads this year, we’re going to need some renovation on our local streets that have since been riddled with potholes. Soon this Winter will give way to Spring and we’ll see new all around us. The old, dead look to the trees will be made new by the Spring warmth.
But it goes further than that. This same concept of old made new is found in the bible as men and women of faith are given new names. Take Abraham for instance. He wasn’t always known by that name. Before God made a covenant with him, his name was simply Abram which means exalted father. But after God established his covenant with him, Abram just wouldn’t cut it anymore. His new name was Abraham, which means father of many.
God took the old, normal, ordinary man known by so many as Abram and gave him a new purpose. God took the everyday man with all of his doubts and fears and made him new by giving him purpose. After God established his covenant with Abram and changed his name, this ordinary man was called to do some extraordinary things. God began to speak to him and use him to do his work of bringing new life to the people of Israel.
But God doesn’t stop there. He didn’t stop with just Abraham. He’s doing the same thing today with you and me. It’s easy to focus on the past work of God in Jesus. We talk all of the time about how Jesus died and rose taking our old lives of sin and how they are made new. We even spend a lot of time looking to the future and how God promises that our old bodies will be made new in the resurrection. But what about now? What about my life right now, in this moment? I believe that Jesus died for my sins and that he will come back to gather me to heaven, but sometimes my life is hard today. What about now?
Old things are made new everyday. Take my street for instance. I couldn’t see it just a few moments ago and now because of the snow plows going down my street – they’ve made it like new again. Abraham was made new in a moment with God that changed his everyday life. And you and I too can have this same changed life today as well.
Sure God changed our past by paying for our sins. He took care of our future by assuring us that he’s returning. But he’s also made our present new by His Spirit. In the waters of baptism we have been made new. As followers of Jesus we believe that the presence of Jesus floods into our lives today. As we remember our baptism and hold to the promises of God our lives are made new.
God is in the business of old made new. He promises that our old ways of sin will be made new in Christ’s death and resurrection. He assures us that our old bodies will be made new in the resurrection on the last day. And he promises that our normal bodies are made new by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It’s this Holy Spirit in me that allows me to be the presence of God wherever I go.
I like to call this the sacramental presence of God. Just as certain as Jesus is present in the waters of baptism and in the bread and wine of communion, so also is he present in the lives of his followers. It’s this very presence that you and I carry into our jobs, homes, neighborhoods and ball fields. The presence of God is in you, making you new every day.
Old made new in Jesus – that’s you and me.
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