New!

Well, it's a New Year, and unfortunately, I have no real deep reflections on 2011, and no prophetic insight into 2012.  To be honest, I've never been one to make resolutions for the New Year or reflect on the one that just passed.  I don't mean this in a negative sense, but to me it's just another year.  It's funny how we seem to almost give a year it's own persona, as if it's some kind of invisible entity that carries us along for 365 days.  But in reality, it's all relative, isn't it?  Just a measure of time that we created to keep track of events and keep balance in our lives. The wheels on the bus go round and round.

So, when I got up this morning, rather than thinking of blog ideas that focused on the "year", I found myself thinking of the word "new".  I began to pray about what is new in my life, new in our world and the things that are new regardless of the age of a particular year.  Have you ever looked up the word new in your Bible concordance?  It's amazing!  Just scan through the scriptures and you'll see that we serve a God that is always new!  Everything He does is new!  In Him and through Him, all we have is new.  And guess what?  You're Life Group is new!

Maybe you've taken some time off for the holidays.  Maybe things are a little stale in your group and you're desperately thinking of what direction to take.  Maybe you're looking for a new start and for God to breathe new life into your group.  Might I suggest the possibility that there is nothing you have to do?  You might not need a new direction.  You might not need a new study.  You might not even need new life to be born into your group.  Instead of looking for something new, maybe we just need to acknowledge the new that already exists.

Take a look at just a few of the verses I found and reflect on them in the sense of the new. 

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23


"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

"He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" - Revelation 21:5 

God's love for each one of us is new everyday! We did not become new creations and we are not new creations at some time in the past.  We are new creations through Christ now and every day!  And most importantly, God is actively engaging in creation to make everything new.  Through His existence, He is continuously making things new because through Him all things must be new.  It's an unavoidable process, and that applies to all of creation, including your life group.  Don't look for something new!  Just accept the new that God  provides right now!