New, Not Just Improved

My parents received a unique offer this last week. A local auto dealer offered them what they paid for their car when they bought it new several years ago. The first thought they had was very similar to thoughts you probably are having. “I’m going to be expected to upgrade and buy something closer to the top of the line from this manufacturer.” Or, “I will have to choose from cars that are currently in stock, and all that will be in stock will be high end, fully loaded vehicles that cost two or three times what we paid for this other vehicle when we bought it.” In fact none of those were true.

My mom and dad will be allowed to choose from any car the manufacturer makes. If that vehicle is not on the lot, it will be shipped or ordered at no additional cost to my parents.  Frankly, that leaves me asking, “How do I get a deal like that!?”

Well, here it is. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!” Yes, it is the deal of a lifetime. Everything old can be turned in, broken or not, dirty or clean, and something brand new will be put in its place. You won’t get a something assembled from the old, broken parts of your life. You will get a new life, a new outlook, a new point of view!

If that be the case . . why do we hang on to the old? Do we expect the fine print from God? Do we think he will back out of the deal and we will end up with nothing? Do we expect him to be a liar and we will find out that we have something that only has a new paint job on the outside and is all busted up and rusted out on the inside and underneath? Do we view God the same way we would view a used car salesperson?

The reformed faith does not believe that to be sinful does not necessarily mean that we are as wicked and evil as possible, so that truly sinful people are people like Hitler, Osama bin Laden, or someone on Death Row for some awful crime. No, the reformed faith believes that to be sinful, or totally depraved, simply means that sin has entered every nook and cranny of our lives. It is not just the things we do; It is the things we do not do. It involves our attitudes, our unforgiving heart, the things we worry about instead of resting in the provision of our Creator, and so much more.

Life in Jesus Christ allows us to leave behind the old junk we carry around and move on to something new and fresh, something that allows us to better live out the life Christ lived, something that allows us to forgive and to accept forgiveness, something that allows us to reach out to those in need with true compassion, to understand rather than judge, and to live in peace rather than to suffer with anxiety. Come and trade in the old for something totally new!

Pastor Craig