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New and Improved - Week Two

March 30, 2025 0 0

 

Old weariness, new wings

 

The human body is in a constant process of restoration. Our respiratory systems, our circulation, our muscles, expand and contract, go round and reset, expend and recover. We are perpetually being restored, reenergised, propelled forward. Our bodies are simultaneously old and new, regenerating. Our spirits, embedded in these bodies, are similarly in a process of constant restoration. Through Christ each day we are ‘new and improved’, aging is a continual time of growth, we keep on growing into Christ.

SEEDS TO SOW: What is something new that you would like to try? And what is something old that you used to do that you’d like to go back to?

 

Read Isaiah 40: 27-28

Old boat, new possibilities…

The immediacy of the theology in these ancient texts is astounding. This is a God who deeply knows us — not an abstract force or a divine being living on a plane far removed from us. None of us are below God’s notice. Every generation this insight is new — that God knows and cares, we do not slip past God’s love.

Who today needs to know that God notices them, that God cares for them? Who in our society needs to hear that they matter — that Got notices them and cherishes them.

For some people this will be new information. For others it might be something they felt once, but no longer connect to for a host of reasons. 

 

Read Isaiah 40: 29-31

Old body, new energy…

There is a youngness, and newness and vitality to following God whatever our stage of life — age and life experience is not a barrier! The newness of God keeps us young! 

Some seabirds like albatrosses who spend most of their lives in the air, have a ‘wing lock’. They are able to fix their wings in position and just ride the air — meaning they can use up less energy just floating on the air than they do standing upright on the ground. With Christ’s wingspan spread wide for us we can ride the wind too.

How can we learn to let Jesus take the weight of our lives when we are used to carrying that weight ourselves? What does it mean to soar with the Lord?

 

Read Isaiah 43: 18-21

Old things and new things…

We often come to God in prayer asking for new things — but perhaps even more often God is the one who comes to us and invites us to do new things!

Is it possible we are more set in our ways than God sometimes?

Sometimes we long for things that are new but not any better for us. And sometimes we want the same old things because we can’t face the change.

How do we tell when God is calling us or leading us to a new thing?