Thank you for joining us as we have worked our way through the book of Revelation. As Pastor David continues to help us unpack the rest of the book, we are going to turn our attention in our daily devotions to the different themes found in John’s writing. For the next week, we’ll dive into themes in the book of Revelation and explore how they align with the rest of Scripture.
This week’s theme: The New Creation
Looking forward to the renewal of all things and dwelling eternally in God’s presence.
Day 4: A New Creation Now
Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Read Revelation 21:5
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
I have to admit that I love when the stores are filled with school supplies in the fall. I am probably most excited to see all those boxes of new crayons. There is something about a new box of crayons! Several weeks ago, I picked up new boxes of crayons for my granddaughters to have at my house. I was so excited as I got them out to show them…they were excited too. I suggested that we take all the old, broken crayons and melt them to make color-swirled crayons. So we began the process of taking the paper off and breaking the already broken crayons into even smaller pieces. We placed them in molds and made some pretty cool crayon creations!
But as we got out the new crayons to color with as we waited for our creations to cool down, my youngest granddaughter emptied her box and started breaking the brand-new crayons!
Once I got over my shock, I realized that in my mind, breaking up the old crayons and melting them down meant getting rid of what was broken so we could move on to those perfect, new boxes of crayons and create something new. But my sweet granddaughter only saw that we already HAD created something new – and she wanted to make more! She didn’t get stuck on the brokenness of the old crayons. She didn’t see them as useless. She was excited about what new things we could make with them.
I think sometimes we forget that while a restoration of our world awaits us when Jesus returns, He has already made something new of the broken pieces of our individual lives. If we aren’t careful, we could get stuck in the waiting for perfection and miss the beauty of what God has done for us in this life. The broken, melted pieces of our lives aren’t just things we need to get through – secondary to the eventual restoration of all that God created. They are a central part of the beauty in the new life God has given us to live now – today, in anticipation and reminder of all that is to come.
Reflection: While we wait for the final renewal of the cosmos, how are you experiencing the “new creation” lifestyle internally today?
