The Promise of Newness

There is a word that sparks excitement to my psyche. The word is “new” or its numerous derivatives. As a New Year begins, it is common for people to think of beginning anew by making New Year resolutions – new diets; new exercise routines; new plans for study; develop new financial plans. The truth is I feel like a new man. After 18 months of medical treatments including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hundreds of prescriptions, pills of varied color, size, and shape, and thousands of encouraging emails and prayers, I feel like a new being.

The devastating effects of the energy of radiation administered in radiation therapy and the powerful toxic effects of chemotherapeutic drugs are designed to destroy the old and facilitate a regeneration of new tissue; to bring an end to the cells of death and create a new beginning for the cells that would bring life. Certainly, my recovery gives me a new sense of what it is to become new.

This is a new year, a new semester, a new month. You may have new classes, new plans, new job assignments, and new ideas. In a few weeks, Americans will welcome a new President and usher in a new government. But the God of grace and mercy whose hands can heal and whose words can bring a new beginning is able to bring new life and a new spirit here and now, and a new vision of what you want to do this year. Let him give you new strength for this new encounter.

Recently I did a search to find some of my favorite biblical passages that incorporate that word, new, or its variants. Here are a few I want to share with you from the New Living Translation:
Ezekiel 36: 26: I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.

Psalm 40: 3 He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.

Lamentations 3: 22 – The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 – Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin anew (sic) each morning.

My best wishes to you for God’s richest blessings in this New Year!