NEW Every Day--by Linden Malki

'NEW' is one of the most powerful words in our language. Or at least, advertising agents certainly think so!

We are constantly bombarded with new this, new that, as if something "new" is always "better." Until the next new thing, that is. I spend my days dealing with people who want a new part for their car, as if just putting on something new is magic. I find myself trying to explain that if they don't find out what's really wrong, new for the sake of new is a waste of time and money (and we can't return stuff that's been didn't work any better than the old one).

I think that we are biased toward "new" because we live in a universe that is constantly changing in some ways , constant in others. Change can be for better or worse; we watch things grow old and worn out; we see new things every day. "News" has become a big business. We can't escape it; except perhaps by living in a yurt in the woods. A good deal of our conversation is "Did you hear that...."; "Have you seen the new..."; "What do you think about...". How much stuff do we buy just because it's "new", with the message that the stuff we've got, even though it may do whatever it does just fine, just isn't good enough. And of course, a lot of the "new" stuff is old stuff redecorated; it actually is not easy to come up with something that truly is "new." Some of it is old stuff that has been out of sight long enough for a new generation to not know that it didn't work last time.

There it is: "new generation." Life is like that: we start out as new babies, and get older every day. Every day is a new one; and we may think we know what to expect, but unexpected things happen.

God is the master of "New." He created a universe that was new; with suns and planets and land and seas and life. One day the new people He had made did something "new" and everything changed. God told Noah that something new was going to happen, and Noah was given a design for a new boat. God brought Jacob's family to a new home in Egypy, and then Moses was told to bring everyone out on a new adventure. A good part of our Bible tells of a God that leads his people into new surprises. The biggest one of all is Jesus, who brought a whole new way of life. "And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creature is gone, and how the new one is here." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Are we ready to be God's new people?