A New Thing
A highlight in my school day are my video chats with my students. My young students always have some intriguing comments to make, no matter what the subject. I never quite know what paths our conversations will take each day. They typically are quite frank and honest in their responses, easily sharing what matters most to them in their world.
As is typical on a Monday morning, I ask them what they did with their weekend. In recent months, their answers are rarely exciting. Sometimes I hear about snow forts built or places visited but usually I get lists of movies watched and board games played as my students try to amuse themselves at home.
This morning one of my students flat out said she was BORED, BORED, BORED. This young girl has had enough of no friend visits and all the restrictions. I could see the frustration in her demeanour and her eyes. It has been a long siege and many children have similar feelings.
I wish I could bring some fantastic new solution to my students’ doldrums and invigorate them. Then again, I wish I could obtain some terrific new thing for my own life to add some interest and excitement. While I wouldn’t say I am bored, I am getting tired of my limited choices of pursuits, as are most of us these days.
The media bombards us with the latest trends in all sorts of things, usually with the push that these “new things” will change our lives for the better. There are hip new fashion items and the latest gadgets. There are continued updated methods of communication, education, and exploration. Many people devote considerable time to following what are perceived to be the latest and greatest of the moment.
Yet, do these truly satisfy our need for newness and hope? Not usually – pandemic or not. Eventually, we get like my student today, feeling bored with the whole thing.
So, what is a person to do to have newness of life? There is only one true solution. In the book of Isaiah God tells us:
“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.” (43:19 NIV)
The book of Isaiah frequently points to the coming Messiah. Here also we are given the hope of new life in Christ. God provides us the way of salvation. He moves us out of the desert of sin into a newness of life in Him alone.
I hope that you will embrace this new thing with gusto. No earthly new toy or pursuit will ever satisfy us the way that life in our Saviour can.
Whether you have been a Christian for most of your life or are just exploring what faith in Jesus means now, consider how this new life that God provides impacts you. The change in our lives when Christ is the center is as dramatic as a stream suddenly appearing in the desert.
Too often we try to fill the voids in our lives with things or destructive behaviours. Taking that approach is like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom. We are never truly full.
What God is offering means lasting satiation. There is no emptiness when God is there. No matter what your situation, I pray that today you will latch on to the significant hope we have through Christ’s saving work on the cross. He is our future. He holds all our tomorrows in His hands.
