God makes old things new

Are you dragging old stuff around with you into the new year?

On a road trip once, I stayed with some folks who had a peculiar way of making coffee. They didn’t make brewed coffee with tap water; they made it with the leftover coffee from the day before.

They reused coffee to make coffee.

Bleck.

It was—interesting. To say the least. (Yes, I hit a Starbucks on the way out.)

Not trying to be critical, but it’s always better to brew coffee with clean water. Reusing old coffee as an alternative makes it taste bitter and can damage the insides of your coffeemaker. It’s better to make coffee NEW every morning, rather than recycling what you didn’t drink yesterday to brew more.

We are rapidly approaching a new year, and I’m not alone in fearing that it may be a rehash of the last two. I’m also certain I’m not alone in needing it to be a better year.

Even though time keeps moving forward, none of us have the power to make 2022 a NEW year. We don’t have that ability. But God does, and He makes new things all the time.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Lamentations 3:22-23

If we go into 2022 with the same junk that we’ve accumulated in 2020 and 2021 (and earlier), we’re going to have the same problems. If we’re dragging bitterness and envy and jealousy and insecurity and all of that baggage around with us, it will turn the new God-opportunities in our lives sour and bitter.

God gives us new mercy every morning. It’s a new start, a chance to begin again, an opportunity to make the right choice.

So let go of all those things that are holding you back and embrace His faithful love and his brand-spanking-new mercy today. With God, tomorrow truly is a new day.

Questions for Reflection

• Have you processed the disappointments of 2021? (It’s okay. We all had them.)

• Why do you believe it’s important to hold on to the past?

• What are the positive elements of your disappointing experiences from 2021 that you can leverage in your goals for 2022?

Weekly Memory Verse