NEW (worthy words 2007)

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”—Luke 18:16-17

It was just a few weeks back. I was driving to my Mom’s house for Sunday lunch. My great-nephew, Joel, hitched a ride and was sitting in the back seat of my truck. We carried on conversation about what he learned in G-Force and other assorted preschooler ramblings when all at once with no particular context he busted out with, “Uncle Eddie, today is the best day ever!” I thought to myself, he was really inspired by my message today. (Hah! Hah!) I responded, “Really, why do you say that?” He said, “I don’t know. I just know it’s going to be the best day ever.” 

Looking at him in the rear view mirror with his boyish grin, blonde hair, and blue eyes I was awakened to something that lay dormant in me since my own kids were that age. For children, every day is an adventure. At the very core of a child is this sense of anticipation, a sense that every day holds something new, something that just wasn’t there yesterday. Joel’s mindset was simply that today is not going to be like yesterday.

The Scriptures emerged out of an ancient Near Eastern worldview. It was a mindset that saw the world cyclically. History was a never-ending cycle of birth-death-rebirth. It was predictable, and in that predictability there was comfort. Celebrations and festivals were in place to celebrate the greater rhythm, the greater cycle of life.

One word you would never hear was this: New.

You see, in the predictability of life, there comes a certain sense of despair. “This is the way life is” which then turns into “This is the way life will always be.” Yet the Scriptures are filled with stories of God inviting people to step out of the cycle and into something, well... new.

God invites Abraham to leave the land of his ancestors, and step into something new (Genesis 12). God invites Moses up onto a mountain and into something new... a relationship His people had never known before (Exodus 3-4). Jesus looks out upon some fishermen one day and invites them to leave everything behind and follow Him... into something new and fresh (Matthew 4).

Something deep within a child connects with the anticipation of what will be new. So it should be with us. Our Creator is a God who invites us to step out from within cycles of despair, into something new, something hope-filled.
 
Perhaps we need to take a lesson from a child. Today, this very day, holds something that no other day before has. Things can be different. This is not how things will always be. There is hope. Things can be...New.

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