So, I'm doing something new: writing this blog. Maybe, given COVID 19 you to are doing something new today or you did yesterday. I think everyone is adjusting to the new normal, whatever that really means. The Britain I know is not this one and that feels odd.
New can feel exciting or scary depending on personality, life stage, financial circumstances or world view. It can just as irritating to be with "Katie" who loves a challenge and who loves nothing more than telling all their followers "to use lockdown to learn something new or shake it up a little". It can be equally as grating to be with Eeyore, who with much weeping and gnashing of teeth, keeps insisting that its far more terrible than we can possibly imagine.
I feel I can be both within a few hours of each other.
One of the first verses I memorised from the Bible was 2 Corinthians 5:17. It was a bible verse within the Topical Memory System, so it wasn't one that I had chosen or that someone had singled out just for me. It was just a verse that came under the headline "Christ the Centre". Little did I realise the impact of that verse and of the others I would come to memorise over the coming decade(s).
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has arrived.
When I was 18 or 19, when I first memorised this verse, it didn't mean a huge amount, as I was so young. But I did grasp the 'differentness' of being in Christ. The former is not the latter. In Christ, you are a new creation.
Only with a decade of messing up, turning back to God, loving Him and choosing Him and His ways, have I begun to learn to dig into the newness, because frankly, the old is looking a bit tired and shagged out.
New life in Jesus Christ, is a life of fresh, clean mercy every day and every moment. New life is a love from the Father that is unconditional because Jesus was the perfect Son I could never be. New life is being secure in the safety of His shadow and arms because I am seen, known, loved, created with purpose, held and restored every single moment of my life.
New life is an end of fighting for my seat at the table, my voice to be heard over the others, my part of the deal to be met because I am invited into the Kingdom and family of God. I have the work of the Son counted as my way in and can just enjoy being with God.
The thing with being made new is that whilst everything changes on the inside, the outside takes a while to catch up. And the world around us feels just as it ever was. Bills need to be paid, dinners need to be cooked, tablets need to taken, tears need to be wiped.
But rather than the outside trying to fix the inside (or rearranged it into a more palatable version), the inside shines out and transforms the motivation, the hope, the taste, the aim. And we begin to see the Spirit working around us and through us into the broken and hope-starved world. And we know the end. The new creation starts inside and works its way out, marching across time and space and hearts and hands. One day, we will the first born children in a new world. Jesus will come and bring newness to everything. All of creation will be made shiny, gloriously, sparkling new. More than repaired. Restored to glory.
This new creation that has arrived in our hearts, minds and souls is the first guest at the party. And it feels awkward and out of step with what's going on around us. Just like we've arrived in our ballgowns for a party in a football club and there is still a match going on. This new creation can feel out of step, unwelcome and unwanted. But we can't let it diminish the reality of our new creation and the fact that we want everyone to be made new. Don't let feeling awkward steal who you really are. That's the beauty of our newness: we didn't earn it. It was offered to us and we grabbed it because we realised that our old life, the old way of doing things, isn't going to work out. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be and someone shared with us a way out. Someone shared Him with us. And we fell in love with Him, because He was in love with us. Without trying, without kidding ourselves or anyone else, God saw us, just as we were, and said "She's mine, I'll go get her".
So, in this season of flux and frustration, I need to remind myself to be who I am. Be the new creation that I am really, despite the awkwardness. Choose to live out my newness, asking the Holy Spirit, Help! Help me be who I really am and who I am becoming, in Christ.
Resources that I found personally helpful:
Reading Ephesians 1 always helps me know who I really am
Elyse Fitzpatrick is a great author on being who you are in Christ
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller is short and helpful
Journeywomen podcast is a great resource if you like podcasts
Chatting and praying with godly women from my church and community (Covid 19 dependant)
Design for Discipleship Bible study series from NavPress (changed and continues to change my life. Big love for DFD!)
