Nothing New happens, it’s just the same ol’ stuff happening with a new skin, new dress, new approach…but it’s all just the same ol’ stuff over, and over. Did I save over again?
It’s a weird thought, but the fact of the matter is, there’s nothing new under the sun so states Solomon thousands of years ago, the wisest man of scripture and his time (Ecclesiastes 1:9). He had looked far and wide, high and low, compared the past to the present and took a snapshot on the horizon of tomorrow… There’s nothing new.
He was exposed to the breadth and width of the known world, and he could find nothing new in any of the corners of his world.
We seemingly live in a world of constant motion and change. That may be exciting on some fronts, but it’s also stressing to see the change happening continually around us.
Technology keeps moving our pocketbooks from full to empty. Automobiles are changing from fossil fuels to hybrid to battery, from autonomous control to a computer control, from lumbering beasts to small fleetfooted animals. Clothing styles continually change. Culture. Language. Even right and wrong!
We could simply say everything is changing, and there are different ways of looking at life, but the reality is that we are still the same.
The challenge exists to live life in a changing world, and not change the foundation of our beliefs. I’m talking about spiritual things here. Sin still exists and still leads us astray. There is still a God who loves us and continually stands ready to redeem us.
The prophet Isaiah says to forget the former things because God will do a new thing (Isaiah 43:1-19), and even the Apostle Paul tells us to put forget the things of our past and reach to the future (Philippians 3:13-14).
Can we conclude that nothing new has nothing to do with change?
Maybe we need to put our spiritual glasses on and think this through. Help me here. If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), then the consistency and constancy of God must always be viewed as scripture states.
For I am the LORD, I change not;
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
(Malachi 3:6 KJV)
Here’s my thought today. We are a fickle people who want the rules to change to meet our current view of life. If it was wrong yesterday, we change the parameters of life and now declare it’s no longer wrong. Whoa! That’s progressive thinking!
But many still cry out: “It’s a new day! New Rules!” Right?
‘This world is not yours”, cries out the new generation. You handled everything wrong. We know how to do it right! Step to the side and we’ll handle it.
I’m thinking this affects many of us with our churches also! “This church needs to be progressive! Stage. Lights. Electronics. Production. Scripted. High tech! Give the audience an experience and thrill. Make them want to come back!
Don’t take offense, but it sounds like Walmart! Chipotle! Disney! I told you to not take offense!
There was a news item a few months ago. A mega church cancelled their weekend services due to storms and flickering power outages. Their electronics could not be depended on, so, cancel church because we cannot perform the way we are used to… What about a simplified service of old? Wheel out that old upright! Grab that acoustical guitar. Where’s the squeeze box? Or even an old fashioned prayer meeting? Let’s be old fashioned every so often and remember the way that was normal for centuries!
One of my favorite memories of a church service over 25 years ago was when we brought the old to the platform and congregation. Let’s have a Brush Arbor Meeting! The tools of the service from 75 years previously were used. We dressed like they dressed. Hay bales. Cut saplings. I led the songs. “If you have a green book, turn to page 33. The black book, it’s on page 201. The blue book is on page 77. Let’s sing, ‘I’ll Fly Away’!”
You may say, “This church is not your father’s church!” True. Nor was his church his father’s church. But here’s a fact you should chew on for a while.
The same God who knows no ending of time has already given us the foundation blocks we need to have a relationship with him. His ways do not change. Nor does his outlook on life. Click To TweetYour relationship with Him is not changed by the experience of the crowd. It’s established by entering that closet and spending time in personal connection.
“But you, when you pray, enter into your room and shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret. And your Father seeing in secret will repay you in the open.” Matthew 6:6 (LITV)
From the personalities on the stage, to the technology ladened rooms, from the personal needs, to the needs of the crowd, God, who has not changed and is continually the same, is looking for you at a personal level. You may meet him in that fancy new auditorium, but he really wants you to pull aside from the crowd and get to know him at a very personal level.
That has not changed. It’s nothing new. It’s the same ol’ stuff…