“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” 

    My mom and her baby brother have always been close so it makes sense that my Uncle’s family and our family have been close. We spent many a holiday together and he has known me my whole life. My cousins and I have had many shared experiences and each family was made keenly aware of each other’s successes and failures. We still get together as a family from time to time and inevitably stories of past exploits come up, some of which are embarrassing not because they involved shenanigans, but because they involved behavior unbecoming to a Christ-follower. For years I just rolled with the punches not wanting to show disrespect to my Uncle. I don’t believe my Uncle’s intent was to harm anyone but I have grown to the point spiritually where sin isn’t funny in the past or the present. Our families all name the name of Jesus and have been wonderfully saved by grace, becoming more and more like Christ as He transforms us. With this in mind, the last time we got together as a family and old stories began to resurface, I interjected that I was so very glad that we no longer behaved that way. That because of Jesus we were living righteous lives and serving God’s kingdom. It was an awkward moment but the conversation needed to happen.

    Our passage tells us “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing;”. In context this passage is teaching that Israel should not put God in a box. God can turn wet to dry or dry to wet for he is the creator and master of the cosmos! God cannot be confined in our mental straightjackets or made to behave with absolute conformity to our preconceived notions. We fully expect God to remember and bring up our sordid past because that is the way we often operate with each other. In Christ we are new creations! God is doing a new thing with his people that are in Christ Jesus. No longer are we to have an annual reminder of sins, for Christ has entered through the torn veil to offer himself once for all time and procure eternal forgiveness for those who come to him in faith. God has determined to blot out our transgressions for his own sake and to remember our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25)! If that is the way a thrice Holy God operates with his children perhaps we should take note and treat each other in that way. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8. If we think in this way our speech will truly follow.

In Christ,

John