The year of 2021 is quickly coming to an end, so the old year will soon be gone and a new year will soon begin.  This is somewhat of a reminder of a wedding tradition that there should be something old and something new.  This goes back to the Victorian Age in Old England and is still part of many weddings today.

        “Words from Above” in the Bible speak of a far more important idea of

something old and new.  The apostle Paul tells us in his second letter to the

Corinthian Church that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old

things are passed away, and behold, all things become new.”

 This has nothing to do with weddings or an old year ending and a new

year beginning.  Instead, it rather has everything to do with an old life of sin coming to an end and a new life with Jesus Christ beginning.  Our old life of sin needs to come to an end because the Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.  We need to begin a new life with Christ because the Bible also tells us that “the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord”.  So, we begin a new life with Christ because our old life of sin leads to eternal destruction for our souls.

        The apostle Paul strongly encourages us in Romans 12 to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, which is holy, acceptable to God, and serves God in a reasonable and acceptable way”.  He goes on to say that we should “not be conformed to this world, but that we should be transformed through the renewing of our mind, to prove God’s will to be good, acceptable and also perfect”.  When we begin a new life with Christ, our mind is renewed so that we begin to adopt the ways of Jesus.

        The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that this means we adopt the same mindset as Christ.  He explains that Jesus knew that He was equal with God His Father, but willingly took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.  He humbled Himself and submitted Himself to dying on the Cross.  Paul says that as a result God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name, a name to which every knee would one day bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, with every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.