The Story I Buy Into – All Things New

It’s an evening in December 2018.

I am in the main downstairs room of the home in which I reside. It’s a home located in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, a city towards the upper Midlands of the country between two of the main cities of the country in Manchester and Birmingham.

This main room has been the place where I have regularly blogged more often than not in the four and a half years that my family has lived in this home. It’s a relatively spacious main room. There’s enough space for me to be seated at the main table to type, whilst my youngest daughter is further down the room doing her homework (allegedly).

This house is the home for five of us. My wife and our three daughters as well as my lumbering self. This home is special to us because it acts as a place of refuge, a place of sanctuary, a place of rest as well as a place of inspiration and cultivation. All five of us belong here and enjoy being here. There is no other physical location where we can be as free and authentic as we can be. That has nothing to do with the decor or the size of the property and everything to do with the relational dynamics that make us a family.

This is also the primary place in which my wife and I in particular express the reality of the story we buy into. My wife is capable of expressing her experience of the story for herself, this is the context for me to outline a brief summary of my experience of that story at this stage.

That story is about the old and the new.

In the old, I was the centre of the universe. Everything needed to revolve around my needs and desires. I latched onto convenient themes that fed what it was to fit in. Those themes included religiosity; gaining intellectual acumen; pursuing a materially affluent lifestyle that would reflect the high level of professional influence I had achieved. There might have been the occasional external indication that I was doing this for the betterment of others as well as myself. For all that, there was still a drive to do it for me, to be the best me I could be and enjoy the goods that came with.

There was enough in this old story to indicate that it was not necessarily as good as I thought it would be. there were hints of traps and failings that I would find no respite from in the themes I clutched at. Regular church attendance, affinity with various doctrinal requirements and a dedication to the institution did indeed offer opportunity to realise and develop skills and abilities. There were certainly moments in which I got the impression there was more to life than the themes that I attached myself to. But those impressions were not lasting. What appeared to be the norm was a cycle of highs and lows of experiences that made me feel better and then worse about myself. As long as I was the centre of the universe these peaks and troughs would have a significant impact on me.

Then the new came along.

Here it was not about paying lip service to sentiments and platitudes about loving Jesus. Here the self-destruct cycle was put to an end with an invitation to acknowledge someone else as the centre of the universe. Here there was a different perspective given on things around me and things in me. It was highlighted that the pursuit for material affluence and a place of esteem among others wasn’t worth it. Here there was a provoking call to consider again this Jesus I claimed to follow. Consider His claims about Himself and see Him indicating the world where all things are new. New because He makes all things new and refreshes them to be what they were created to be in the light of Him.

All things new meant a new way of looking at the world around me. Not through the lens of a certain perspective that had dominated my life to that point. Consider that the lens was far different than what had been presented. Consider that what He meant by the world and loving not the world or the things of the world, wasn’t as superficial and light as I first saw it. Consider that what He meant by the Kingdom being at hand and to repent and enter it was not a one-off decision. It was not something to be contained into weekly expressions in set locations at set times.

All things new meant a new centre of the universe and a challenge to see all things new through Him. See what marriage was like through Him. See what parenting was like through Him. See the beauty of community through Him. See the purpose and joy in work through Him. Not just see but actively partake in the new because not only was He making all things new, He was bursting that new within me in every way that I yielded to His Lordship.

All things new means acknowledging the pervasive influence of the old around me and in me and counteracting that with the reality of the new. The new that brings life and defeats death. The new that brings healing and hope. The new that brings justice and joy. The new that lifts people from brokenness even as He became broken so that in the new we would be made whole.

It is very easy for me to slip into the old and there are subtle calls to go back there from various sources from within me and beyond me. Yet the very centre of the new and who embodies and encapsulates all things new is the irrepressible, gracious, merciful and kind King and Lord of all creation who loves to live inside me and draw me into Him and remain in the new.

In doing this, He invites me to share what that new is. First and foremost with my wife Then with our daughters. Then in whatever way opportunity presents itself. It’s why the home we live in is so important because it’s not just for us. We come across beautiful people and love having them over to be a blessing to us and nudge us to seeing the new once more. We come across broken people and love having them over to be blessed by us and nudge each other to seeing the new.

Life in this story I buy into is not about a glass half empty or a glass half full. Life in the story that I buy into sees no glass.

It just sees all things new.

(Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden