January 5, 2000
GRACE & PEACE:
Real newness rests only
in the future in God's hands
___"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ... and I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem. ... He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Revelation 21:1-5
___This New Year caused a multitude to tremble with fear or to shiver with excitement. After all, in popular reckoning, the turn of the calendar from 1999 to 2000 ushered in not only a new year, but also a new decade and a new century, and for the first time in 1,000 years, a new millennium.
___Of course, the whole event has been overrated. Nothing of significance is really new inthis so-called New Year. Turning the pages of a calendar does not make anything new.
WILLIAM M. PINSON JR.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___New Year's Day does not bring with it new physical bodies or new wisdom. Indeed, we have the same bodies and brains. And New Year's Day never brings about in itself new relationships with other people, new jobs, new bank accounts, new houses or new anything--except perhaps a new calendar.
___So why all the hype about a new year, new decade, new century and new millennium?
___Perhaps it is because most people long for newness--new beginnings, new relationships, new jobs, new insights into the meaning of life and for some new bodies.
___Although we may value many of the present and even "old" features of our life and world, most people have memories of deeds done they would like to erase. Many endure relationships that bring discomfort. Others live with commitments they wish they never made. We dwell in a world filled with violence, hate, pollution and other conditions that we seem unable to eradicate; the old world is one we would like to trade for a new one.
___So, we long for some things, if not for all things, to be made new. Thus phrases such as "a fresh start," "turn over a new leaf" and "begin anew" pepper our thoughts and conversations.
___But none of this is humanly possible. All of the utopian dreams and schemes of the past have come to naught. Political, social and economic plans for a new world order all have failed. The mere passage of time does not bring any such newness. Is newness then but an idle dream, a hope that is hopeless?
___Not so, declares God's word. Newness comes not from a "New Year" or the passage of time or from human effort alone but from God himself. God lifted the curtain of eternity and allowed John the writer of the Revelation to peek into the future and affirm that for those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior there is the promise of newness when all the "former things are passed away."
___Does the fact that real newness rests only in the future in God's hands mean we are to do nothing but wait? No. The Bible sets forth clearly what we are to do in the meantime, such as love others both in word and deed, strive for justice, kindness and mercy in all human relations, and share the good news of forgiveness of sin and new life in Christ. Although a new heaven and a new earth--total newness--await God's action, we can experience new life in Christ. And that is certainly worth celebrating!
___Please pray that all people everywhere will realize that true newness comes only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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