Bringing in the New Year is an event in many places. Most notably, Times Square in New York City welcomes the New Year annually with its famous ball drop. First observed in 1907, the ball on the roof of One Times Square begins dropping with one minute left in the old year. More than a million people are on hand to see the spectacle; many millions of others watch the festivities on TV.
The city of Macon, Georgia has a population that is only a fourth of the number at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but it has a plan to kick off 2025 with a boom. Literally. Last year the city acquired through a federal bankruptcy auction the building that formerly housed the Ramada Plaza Hotel. It will be demolished by professionals who will place explosives at strategic points. As the clock strikes midnight, it will be “out with the old” to make room for a new facility that they promise will be more attractive than the old hotel, which has been vacant since 2017.
Most everyone is on board with having something nicer to occupy that property. To make it happen, though, the old has to come down.
Jesus was criticized by some for not following customs long practiced by Jews. Jesus’ response is found in Matthew 9:16,17: “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Though the practices Jesus mentioned may not be familiar to us, the idea is obvious: New things can’t be blended into older things. The old has to be put aside for the new to enjoy full benefit.
Paul spoke of the beginning of one’s new spiritual life in Romans 6:4: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Before the “newness of life” there must be the burial of the old (that which is dead because of sin). “Out with the old” must be our attitude.
The principle may be best stated in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Are we considering a new life, one to replace the ragged, worn-out life of our past? Let’s get one thing straight in our minds: Before the new is put in place, we must demolish the old. That’s a process the New Testament calls “repentance”. Once we’re committed to that, Christ can raise up a life that is superior to anything in our past.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright, 2024, Timothy D. Hall