“I am making everything new!” This is the proclamation that comes from the throne of God in Revelation 21. It is a fitting declaration for us to think about as we prepare to begin another year. All of this talk we always have and hear this time of year about New Year’s resolutions and changing things going forward, it really is about trying to make things new, isn’t it? We recognize that something needs improvement in our lives. We recognize that something needs fixing and so we resolve to start fresh or make it new for the coming year. Honestly, we could do this every day; such are the amount of things that need fixing in our lives. But, doing so even once a year shows our recognition of the need for things to be better, to be new.
God tells us that this is precisely what he is doing on a grand scale. This has been his plan all along, to make all things new. God’s master plan is to take all that has been stained and harmed by sin and evil in creation and restore it to the goodness he created it to have. This might seem like a nice vision of the future – “boy it will be nice when Jesus returns and things are like that!” However, passages like the one from Ephesians 4 remind us that this transformation is already taking place now. Most predominantly it is happening within us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. That is why Paul and other writers in Scripture are always imploring us to leave our old selves behind and to put on our new selves and the fruit of the Spirit that comes with it. God is making all things new, and he is doing this already in the hearts and lives of his people now.
Perhaps that is another reason this whole New Year’s resolution thing isn’t such a bad idea for us as Christians. In our culture we tend to focus on physical characteristics or improvements we’d like to make, and those things aren’t bad to try and improve, but as God’s people perhaps this is as good a time as any to look at ourselves and say, “What part of my life needs to show more of my new self in Christ? What part of my walk with God needs to show more of the fruits of the Spirit going forward?” In all this we trust that the weight for this growth and newness doesn’t rest on our shoulders alone. God is the one doing the work to make us and all things new, just as he promised, and he has poured out his Spirit in us to do it. Behold, I am making all things new! Amen!