A New Day, Not The Same Old One
“God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” ~ C.S.Lewis
New versus Old. There have been comparisons and contests between the two for generations. Some people only swear by the new while others will cling only to the old and will not even enter anything new.
Old can mean predictable. Old can evoke a sense of the reliable. Old feels better, more comfortable. New can be edgy and unpredictable. It can mean that we might have to change somehow.
So, when we encounter seasons such as Advent, we often slip into our “comfortable is better” skin and do the predictable, the reliable, the comfortable. We make and light our Advent wreathes. We read scripture selections. We make Jesse trees. And we tick off the days between the First Sunday of Advent to Christmas. As long as we can mark off each day, we manage to tell ourselves that our Advent has been successful.
But, as C.S. Lewis would indicate, our Advent will not be successful unless we come out of the season a different person than we were when we entered the season. We should be a bit more holy, a bit less jaded, a bit more open to the Spirit, a bit less obstinate of heart. In short, we should be a bit more like Jesus.
The season of Advent was given to us to do more than mark time. Use today for more than that. Be more, pray more, do more. Let God into your life and give Him permission to change you as needed.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to come into your life this day in such a way as to make you new.