Pastor's Column 1/7/2024

PASTOR’S COLUMN

“Then Jesus gave them this illustration: 'No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.'”    Luke 5:36, NLT

“The New!”

All of life awaits a greater fulfillment. We live in both the present, and in the not yet. John eloquently described this when he said “…we are now the children of God, but what we shall be is not yet known.” (I John 3:2, NIV). John was confident that the greater image of ourselves, would be like our Savior, Jesus Christ. The familiarity that we encounter each day; is, in the words of Dr. Howard Thurman, “never final or absolute.” From the beginning, God created us to “become.” This is an ever-emerging process. This is why the New Year should be welcomed as an opportunity to embrace “newness” of thought; and for “renewal.” So often I have heard people speak of a birthday or a New Year, merely as “another date on the calendar.” Somehow, they’ve failed to understand God’s plan for regeneration of life, purpose, and attitude. People often are mired in frustration over issues they should have released to God previously. You may recall in reading your Bible, Mrs. Lott had this problem. God provided Lot and his family with a clear path to escaping the ecological destruction of Sodom, where they lived. Lot and his wife were told to flee the city, but warned, to “not look back.” The Hebrew term for looking back in that instance, suggested, “turning back toward” [the city]. Mrs. Lot failed to see the new future ahead of her because she was emotionally tethered to the old city, with its allurements. In failing to embrace the “new;” sadly, Mrs. Lot was decimated to molten ash, in the sulfuric fire. Jesus gives us a plain lesson about appreciating the new; and not permitting what is inadequate to ruin what is newly given. Jesus said a piece of cloth from a new garment, placed on an old garment would be ill-fitted. The old cloth would not cooperate with the new. It would be of no use. The new awaits the faithful!