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All Things New: Preparing Your Heart for a New Year

God Loves New Things

The start of a new year is always a good time to pause and think about what new things God may want to do. I’m firmly convinced that God likes doing new things. It’s isn’t that God gets easily bored. Many people today need a constant rush of the new and different or they can’t pay attention, but God isn’t like that.

God Is Making All Things New

If you want some proof of God’s love for new things, look at what God said at almost the end of the Book of Revelation: Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

This comes at the end of the Book of Revelation:

After God’s people have been gathered to heaven
After the Great Tribulation
After the rise and fall of the Antichrist
After the Battle of Armageddon
After the glorious return of Jesus Christ
After the judgment of the nations
After 1,000 years of the personal reign of Jesus on earth
After the end of Satan’s evil career
After the final judgment
After the new heaven and new earth
After the New Jerusalem

After all that, God is not finished making things new.

This was so amazing to John that he stopped writing and had to be specifically told to keep on writing. The One on the throne had to say to John, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

New Things throughout the Bible

God so loves new things that new things will be part of heaven! All through time, we see that God loves new things:

In Leviticus God asked for a new grain offering (Leviticus 23:16)
In Numbers God gave Israel new wine and new grain (Numbers 18:12)
In Psalm God tells us that He loves a new song (Psalm 33:3, 40:3)
In Isaiah God declares new things for His people (Isaiah 42:9, 43:19)
He gives us a new name (Isaiah 62:2)
He will make a new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22)
In Jeremiah God makes us part of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31)
In Lamentations God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23)
In Ezekiel God gives us a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26)
In Matthew Jesus looks for new wineskins to use (Matthew 9:17)
In John Jesus gives us a new commandment (John 13:34)
In 2 Corinthians God makes us a new creation and makes things new (2 Corinthians 5:17)
In Revelation God promises a New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2)
God even made sure Jesus was buried in a new tomb! (John 19:41)

God’s Message for You

So, hear God say it to you today: “Behold, I make all things new.”

In one sense there is nothing really special about the first day of the year. When I was a little boy, I thought the first day of summer was much better than the first day of the new year. Still, something about the new year speaks to our God-given love of new things

It is true that we can take that love for new things and make it an idol; but the basic desire a new thing is because we are made in the image of God

But still, God says to you today: “Behold, I make all things new.”

It’s worth it to be happy about a new year, to be excited about it, to receive it with faith, and happiness, and some celebration.

New Things Ahead This Year

Think of what God wants to make new in this New Year:

New mercies, new grace
New blessings
New opportunities
New conquest over stubborn sins
New faith replacing old fears
New life for many

I don’t doubt that God also has new challenges, new responsibilities, and new accountabilities for you this year – but whatever new comes to you from the hand of Jesus will be a blessing.

After all, notice who it is in Revelation 21:5 who said, “Behold, I make all things new.” – it was Jesus Himself.

Jesus is an expert at doing new things; what He did on the cross, in dying for our rescue, in being buried, and in rising again from the dead was all completely new.

Be blessed in this new year – and let Jesus the carpenter build some new things in your life this new year.