God Is Into New

Have you ever wondered why God created seasons? What about procreation? Flowers? Our God is into new.
I’ve been working with youth for a long time … a couple of decades now. When the grunge music came on the scene, so did an interesting fashion trend. My youth, even the trendiest and most wealthy – actually especially the trendiest and most wealthy – were intentionally going to thrift stores to buy their clothes. Shortly after, several jeans companies started selling new jeans that were specifically “distressed” to look like old jeans. My affluent teens didn’t think twice about spending a few hundred dollars (no exaggeration) of their hard earned money (actually I mean their parents’ hard earned money) on a single pair of jeans that looked like they had been used as a rag for changing oil in the car, washed in old coffee grounds, splattered with bleach, then dragged behind the car for a few miles. They had holes and stains. The hems were frayed and the buttons and rivets scratched. I witnessed them buy new baseball caps and bend the brim severely and scrape it along the ground to ruin the newness.
I didn’t get it. I like bright, new shiny things. I like opening the new impossible-to-open plastic sealed clamshell packages because I know that the contents have never been used by anyone else. When first cracking one open, I like the smell of the new useless plastic trinkets. That euphoric sensation that almost makes you woozy because it’s the first time the molded plastic has breathed. I like the shine of new metal, smooth with no flaws in its surface. I like the burned ozone smell of brand new electronics when you turn them on for the very first time. It excites me to get something new. It’s embarrassing, but I’ve purchased things that I know I already have enough of, just because I want a new one.
Things with no scratches and that new smell have always held much more attraction for me … unless it’s something I really love. When it’s something I really love, I want it repaired. I want it re-made, recreated into something useful again. When I love something, I don’t want to let it go.
Our God spent only seven days creating a good universe with very good people in it (Genesis 1-2). He said he was finished creating. Then Adam and Eve screwed it up. For the first time, it was broken. He’s been recreating ever since. Flowers bloom, attract insects to spread pollen, then die. Next Spring, they bloom again. Man dies, but his progeny lives on through procreation. Even in the end, when the Earth is destroyed, there is recreation into a new Heaven and a new Earth.
I tell my youth all the time that they are lucky I’m not God. (They are quick to agree.) The day the forbidden fruit was eaten in Eden, I would have destroyed it all and started over from scratch. No witnesses, no foul. He didn’t. He loved man too much. His justice required the penalty he had ascribed for rebellion, but his grace provided the sacrifice in man’s stead. Atheists ask me all the time “how could a loving God callously send people to hell?” My response has always been. “He couldn’t. I believe a loving God would probably try to keep people out of hell. In fact, He would probably do everything He could to keep people out of a place like that. I believe a loving God would make personal sacrifice to help people avoid that. I believe He would even sacrifice His own son to keep people out of hell. That’s what a loving God would do. That’s what a loving God did.”
As our calendar arbitrarily changes to a new year, remember that God has provided newness for you and wants to continually renew you. This is a chance to start new and fresh. It is an opportunity to let Him recreate you a little closer to His image. You may need allow Him to recreate you by eliminating bad habits that just won’t die. You may need to allow him recreate in you good habits that just won’t stay alive. You may need to allow Him to recreate strained relationships to strong ones. You may need to let Him recreate romantic relationships into friendships. Allow God to recreate you this year. He’s into new.