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Revelation 21:1-5a
Are you searching for something? Is there a restlessness in your life -- an undefined longing?
I ask because the Scriptures speak to our deepest needs. In Revelation 21:5 God tells us: "Behold, I make all things new." Wouldn't it be great to have God do a new thing in your life? Wouldn't it be great to be made a new person? Wouldn't it be great to have a new love for God -- a better relationship with God -- a new love for your marriage -- a much improved marriage -- a new love for your family -- a much improved family -- to get up tomorrow morning and go to a new job -- a job that brings out the best in you?
According to the book of Revelation, God is in the business of making all things new.
It's like the story of a man who was selling an old warehouse. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Gangs had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and thrown trash everywhere. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, he took pains to say he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage. The buyer smiled and said, "Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site." God does the work. All we can do is offer him our lives.
When God does a new thing in our lives, He starts with the site and builds from there. At Lystra there was a disabled man who couldn't use his feet. God used Paul to give this man new hope -- new life. Paul, looking at him intently, said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And the man sprang up and walked. He had been given a great gift -- the gift of a new and improved life.
Of course, Paul himself knew what it was like to be made a new person. Saul the dread persecutor became Paul the loving missionary/preacher.
New teachings -- new life -- new hope -- new direction--that's what the Gospel is all about. We can be new people. We can have new life in Christ. "Behold, I make all things new."
What is it that prevents real change from taking place in our lives? It all comes down to two small voices deep in our consciousness -- two small voices that speak to us in all our waking hours.
The first is a voice that tells us, "We are too good to change." You and I may recognize our lives are not all they could or should be, our families are not all they could be or should be, our relationships with the world are not all they could be or should be, but we aren't ready to pay the price of change. We're coping. We're getting by. Let the rest of the world change to accommodate us.
Imagine being at the beach with your friends. You get into trouble in the water. What do you do? Do you call out for help or struggle alone because you wonder what your friends would think?
Some of us have a voice within us that says, "I know I need to change, but I can't ask for help. What would my friends think?" Some of us have a voice within that's saying change is for other people -- but not for us. We are good enough -- strong enough -- capable enough. So, we miss the joy of a new life because we listen to the voice that says we are too good to change.
But there's another voice that speaks to many of us. It's a voice that says we are too bad to change. What is it that defeats many of us when we try to make a meaningful change in our lives? Isn't it a small voice that says, "You can't do it. You don't have what it takes. You never see anything through to the end. You're irresponsible. You'll never make it." For some of us there is a voice that says, "You are too good to change," but for many more of us there is a voice that says, "You're too bad to change."
Some of us have a little voice saying, "You don't have what it takes to change. You can't make it. There's no use for you to try."
That's the voice Lulu often heard. Lulu Roman grew up in an orphanage. Her greatest dream was to be adopted and have a family who loved her. She remembers sitting in her closet in the orphanage and crying each time a car pulled away with another child. No one ever came for her. Lulu had a thyroid problem and was a heavy child. Her weight made her a target for bullies.
Lulu started taking drugs to escape the pain of loneliness and rejection. In fact, she was high when she auditioned for Hee Haw, a popular country/variety TV show that started to air on CBS from 1969-71. As the show became more successful, Lulu's addiction grew. She got kicked off the show and told to clean up her life. At about this time, Lulu discovered she was pregnant. She became bitter and angry toward God. She felt there was no way God could love her.
Lulu's son, Damon, was born with serious health problems related to her drug use. When the doctors told her Damon wouldn't make it, Lulu reports, "I can remember lying in that hospital bed trying to pray, but I was so mad at God that I didn't want to have anything to do with him. The only thing I knew to say was, 'Yo, dude, if you're real, I'll make a deal with you. If you'll let me have my baby, then I'll straighten up and stop doing drugs and I won't do anything except what you want me to.'" A few days later, Damon's condition improved, and Lulu took him home from the hospital.
Not long afterwards, Lulu ran into Diane, a girl she'd grown up with in the orphanage. Diane had become a Christian, and she wanted to share her faith with Lulu. Lulu tried to shut her up, but Diane said, "Just listen to me. Let me tell you that Jesus is real. Let me tell you how He's changed my life."
Lulu did listen, and she prayed to receive Jesus. And she says at that moment she found the love she'd been searching for her whole life. She instantly lost her desire for drugs. When the producers of Hee Haw saw how completely Lulu's life had changed, they asked her to come back on the show. She used her fame to share her testimony of how Jesus had changed her life completely, how his love and grace had given her a new life she once thought was impossible for her.
Many of us have been listening to the wrong voice. We need to listen to the voice that seeks to encourage us and remake us. "Behold, I make all things new."
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Rev. Charles Eldredge is a member of Maitland Church of the Brethren. He has a Facebook page and can be contacted by email: ce1133@verizon.net.