I remember when Tide detergent started advertising their product was new and improved. At first, I thought changing something was a great way to increase market share and attract new customers. As the years passed, Tide continued to advertise improvements but the marketing department dropped the spin of it being a new product. The boys upstairs realized people bought the idea of improvements more than they wanted a new product. I think the human race has more in common with Tide than we know.
People want improvements more than they want a new product. Our society wants improved living standards, not new ones. Businesses want an improved bottom line to support an improved stock price that facilitates an improved bonus structure. Christians can fall into the same Madison Avenue trap with their spiritual lives. Our churches can add to the problem by encouraging us to be better husbands and wives, better friends and better parents. The problem is, God is not interested in improvements to make us better. God sent his Son to make all things new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Search for the word ‘new’ in the New Testament. Look for the numerous ways and times Christ and the disciples emphasized the focus on making things new and NOT improved. Let me highlight the word ‘new’ and give a few examples…
– “…just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a NEW life.” Romans 6:4
– when believers take communion “This cup is the NEW covenant in my blood;” 1st Cor. 11:25
– “His purpose was to create in himself one NEW humanity out of the two..” Ephesians 2:15
– “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it’s evil desires; to be made NEW in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the NEW self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-23.
The last example from scripture in Ephesians drills home the point. Do you really believe you can make improvements and fulfill God’s purpose for your life? Will improvements in your prayer life from 10 to 20 minutes make you more righteous? Will not looking at porn for 2 months instead of 2 days make you holy? Will improving the way you show respect to your husband really make you the wife Christ wants you to be?
People let me confess. I am twerked beyond recognition to be performance oriented. I lived in a profession for 30 years that just reinforced and quantified being better and improving service and performance. God in His mercy showed me that unless I allowed Him to change everything in me that He wanted and needed to make new, I was wasting my time. Only by allowing Him to change EVERYTHING, including my job, could He make me the new creature He desired.
The truth is, we don’t want to allow Him to make us new because there’s a lot about ourselves we like too much to give Him free reign to change what HE wants. We not only like ourselves, we trust ourselves and think we need ourselves. Proverbs 3:5-7 commands us to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding…Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.” He wants and NEEDS to wreck our lives because otherwise we will lean on the way we’ve seen it done, the way we know it has worked in the past. We will only make improvements to a structure we mistakenly believe is sound.
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with it’s practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of it’s creator.” Colossians 3:9-10. A NEW you is risky. Your old self may have provided well. Your old self may have lots of friends. Your old self may have a good reputation and track record. All of this sounds safe and good, but your old self is fighting against the will of God and the inner working of the Holy Spirit to make you new. Down deep we think the old self just needs to be improved and made better. Better is only a derivative of good and Christ set that straight in Mark 10:18, “‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good-except God alone.'”
“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.'” Revelation 21:5. The God who created all that was and is to come is into new construction, not renovation. Jesus Christ came to destroy the past work of the devil and give us new life. Jesus’ life and ministry is a NEW covenant not an improved one. Believers are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, not a renovated one.
Are you allowing God to change you and make your operating system new each day or are you denying the work He needs to do? It may take a wrecking ball to clear out the old self, but He is either trustworthy or not. If it scares you what He might want to do, good. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7. Lean INTO Him.
The question you have to answer is ‘Do you want to be improved or made new?’ Are you trusting Him or yourself? Your eternity is in the balance and time waits on no man.