Time of Year for Making Old Things New

Did you know spring is like Christmas? In their own ways, they’re both a “most wonderful time of the year.” Springtime brings warmer temperatures; flowers are starting to burst forth; and nature as a whole is emerging from its winter slumbers. It’s a time for renewal, reinvigoration, even rebirth.

 

Before long we’ll be seeing those creatures both curious and wonderful – caterpillars – crawly little critters aspiring to become something bigger, brighter and definitely more beautiful: Butterflies. What an amazing thing: a fuzzy creature slinking slowly along the ground that somehow knows how to build a rebirthing chamber called a chrysalis, only to emerge within a few short weeks as something totally different, newly equipped with delicate, colorful wings for flitting from place to place. 

 

This is more than a scientific marvel. It’s a miracle, a profound example of God’s creative capacities. It’s also a glorious metaphor for spiritual truth – God’s grand desire to turn each of us into something totally new, unstained by sin and its consequences. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:17 puts it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 

 

Sounds like that one-time caterpillar that has wrestled out of its chrysalis, doesn’t it? The difference is, our own transformation spiritually is all God’s doing. We respond to Him by faith, but He’s the change agent. As Jesus Christ told Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). We can’t do that ourselves.

 

It’s a profound mystery, but true nonetheless, that as Galatians 2:16-20 describes it, “…So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law…. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

 

Why is this comparison of the lowly caterpillar and humans so important? Because it provides a common but compelling example of how God has worked from the very beginning, first speaking substance out of nothingness, as well as taking the old and broken and restoring it in ways that no longer resemble what was before. In Isaiah 43:18-19 God declares, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing? Now it sprints up; do you not perceive it?” 

 

One doesn’t need to look too hard or too far to observe the sorry, sickly state into which our society has descended. In vain we look for manmade cures. The very best that government or business or philosophy can conjure fall way short of fixing the seemingly unfixable. New laws, innovations and human reasoning seem little more than a Band-Aid for problems that require major surgery for spiritual heart disease.

 

Should we give up in frustration and despair? Not at all, and that’s one reason I believe God created the caterpillar-butterfly metamorphosis. It’s a visible depiction of how He intends to work in each of our lives, if we let Him. 

 

Near the close of the Book of all books, the Lord says, “I am making everything new!... Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true…. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:5-6).

 

The “new thing” God spoke about thousands of years ago, as recorded by the prophet Isaiah? He’s still doing it. Current residents of a world overwhelmed by so much pain and sorrow, we have the promise of a new world like nothing we’ve known: 

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

Any time you’re feeling down in the dumpster, fearing our world is going the wrong place in the proverbial handbasket, just look at a butterfly for a reminder: New things, they are a-comin’! 

Reflecting on Restorations

Once in a while as I’m driving around, I’ll spot an antique car on the roadway that someone has restored. It might be a classic, high-finned 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, an iconic 1967 Mustang Coupe, or maybe even a stately 1929 Pierce Arrow. Even though I’m not mechanical, I have great appreciation for people adept at taking an old car and painstakingly bringing it back to its original glory. Perhaps even better.

Vintage cars like this 1956 Chevy
Bel Air can't help catching our eyes.

I feel the same way about those who enjoy restoring old furniture. Some folks can go to a garage sale or antique store, find something most of us would dismiss as junk, and transform it into something of beauty and renewed usefulness. It takes skill – and tender, loving care – to take something that’s become old and worn and turn it into a new thing.

A friend of mine in Kansas City has spent much of his life in professional photography. In recent years he’s developed a business of restoring old photographs. Some of these date back to the early 1900s, and he delights in serving his customers by restoring faded images into treasured, high-quality pictures of beloved family members, distant ancestors, or historical settings.

Since we’re still in the glow of the new year – before we get a sobering reminder that for the most part, not much has changed from 2018 – I’ve been thinking about another kind of restoration, perhaps the best kind: personal, spiritual restoration.

I will never forget the epiphany I received more than 30 years ago that helped me to understand how much God loves making new things. We can look to the creation story in Genesis, or the account of Noah when the Lord decided He needed to start all over with humankind. But in the New Testament, we see a different kind of “new,” one that He performs from the inside out.

At the time of my revelation, I had been determinedly trying to “live the Christian life,” and doing a miserable job of it. When I encountered 2 Corinthians 5:17, I reasoned it couldn’t possibly apply to me, because I felt I was nothing like what it described. It declares,“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” At that time, that hardly sounded like me – I felt like the same old knucklehead I had always been.

A key to understanding this is the preceding verse, which states, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” Like many people, particularly in our pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps, “I did it my way” culture, I had been attempting to change myself, to fix my flaws. That, I discovered, is not how God works.

For instance, Romans 6:4 informs us,“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” The Lord has no interest in tweaking our old life; He wants to undertake a complete transformation, restoring us into the people He’s always intended for us to be – in Christ.

This is occurring all over the world, regardless of nationality, culture or dialect. God is aggressively working in each of His children to make them into new creations (another translation calls us “new creatures”). And this won’t be ending soon. In fact, the Scriptures tell us it will continue through the end of time as we know it.

In Revelation 21:1-5 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’…” 

So the next time you see a vintage automobile or truck tooling down the road, admire a chair or chest of drawers someone has refurbished, or study a restored photograph, let that be a reminder that God is the expert at that, making old, broken things new, works of art for His eternal pleasure.

The Lord wants to do that in each of our lives. He desires to take us “just as I am,” as the old hymn says, and embark in a lifelong process of restoring us into the people He wants us to be. For His glory.

Complete Makeover: Human Edition

As previously noted, I’m not mechanical. Not even close. My dad, uncle (his brother) and paternal grandfather all were handymen, very skilled with their hands. Not me. If there’s such a thing as a “mechanic” gene, I’m lacking it. Under duress I can hammer a nail or turn a screw, but that’s it. And even those tasks require my most intense concentration.

Cable TV home makeover shows offer proof
that a total transformation is possible.

So it comes as a surprise – even to me – that I find some of HGTV’s programming interesting. Particularly fixer-upper type shows. It’s not that I’m looking for “how-to” or DIY (do it yourself) tips. Because when you have two left thumbs, attempting repair or renovation projects around the home isn’t flirting with disaster. It’s an all-out romance with calamity.

Why then do I watch? Because it amazes me how the “experts” can take a wreck of a home and turn it into a residential work of art. And it involves more than paint and surface touches. Many of the projects have termite problems; wiring dating back to the early 20^th century; décor that went out with the Kennedy administration; defective plumbing, and floor plans that look like they were conceived by three-year-olds with LEGOS. Massive renovation is needed.

As the designers and contractors guide would-be buyers and renters through various properties, explaining how they could perform the habitational equivalents of sow’s ears made into silk purses, I think, “No way. The only thing that could help that house (or apartment) would be utter demolition.” But by the end of the program, voila! They’re performed a makeover that would turn plastic surgeons emerald with envy.

Some of the housing transformations seem nothing short of miraculous. The homeowners could not have brought about the changes. They couldn’t even have envisioned them. And yet, when it’s all finished, everyone exclaims, “This is perfect! It’s more than we could have dreamed. I can’t believe it!”

In a very real sense this is what God desires to do in each of our lives. If we’re honest, we all admit we’re messed up. Not only are we unable to live up to God’s standards; we can’t even live up to our own. Have you ever intended to be kind and failed to do so? Have you ever admitted you weren’t nearly as loving or caring as you should be? Have you ever said that thing you can’t believe you said? Or have you ever realized your best intentions were just that – intentions never acted upon, therefore never realized?

There are misconceptions even within what’s commonly referred to as Christianity. One is that we’ve got to clean up our own act, to try to be deserving of God’s approval and acceptance. Good luck! That’s like trying to convince a rotted log it’s got to turn itself into material suitable for a beautiful hardwood floor. It’s not going to happen.

Some will respond, “Nobody’s perfect. God knows that, and accepts us just as we are.” Nice sentiments, but that concept is reflected nowhere in the Scriptures. Essentially it says God loves us as we are – but loves us too much to leave us that way. Because, as Isaiah 64:6 asserts, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” I won’t give you the literal meaning of “filthy rags,” but if you’re interested you can look it up. It’s not referring to dust cloths.

In case we’re tempted to dismiss that statement as being strictly for Old Testament people, Romans 3:10 declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” And it’s not just talking about politicians. The passage continues, “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one.” Wow! Don’t worry about “nobody’s perfect.” We’re light-years from that.

Reading this makes us want to echo the question of Jesus’ disciples: “Who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26). Jesus responded with the answer that remains true today: “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).

If there is a “secret” to the so-called Christian life, this is it. Living the life God requires isn’t difficult – it’s impossible in our own efforts. It requires, like the home improvement shows on TV, a complete makeover. A transformation. The good news is that God is in the transformation business. It’s His specialty.

That’s why it was necessary for Christ to go to the cross on our behalf, to be the sacrificial Lamb for us. Our sins, our debts, could be reconciled only by the direct, personal action of the one to whom we’re indebted, the one we’ve sinned against, the only one who could wipe the slate clean.

More than that, God wanted to offer not only life after death, but life before death. But to do that meant more than a little touch-up. Nothing short of a total transformation is sufficient. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” And Galatians 2:20 affirms that truth: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Not just a fresh coat of paint, a bit of plaster to cover up some holes in the wall, or a little duct tape. That’s hardly enough. God desires – and demands – a complete, total, extreme spiritual makeover. And He’s the only one that can achieve it.

Only then, as the apostle Paul wrote, can we be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). And God can say with authority, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5).

How’s your “makeover” coming along?