Monday’s follow-up to Sunday’s message: The old has gone, the new has come

 . . . except that the old really hasn’t gone.  It’s still here.  We’re surrounded by it.  We live in the old.  And that’s okay . . . because the old is good.

It’s good because the old is part of the good gifts God has given us.  The old church, the old friends, the old hangout.  All of these memories and experiences and relationships that God has given us and blessed us with throughout the course of our lives . . . they’re very good things!  And who’d want to see good things go away, even if they are a bit old?

No one would.  That’s kind of my point.

We cling to the old, familiar things because they are a source of comfort for us.  They’ve become part of our identity.  When we think about the old, familiar things we have a sense of belonging.  We feel we understand who we are.

But when we do that, we can miss the better thing that God gives us in Christ.  Because when we take a bit too much comfort in the good things God gives us, we can miss the fact that we still need God’s best thing. 

We still need His forgiveness. 

And none of the good things God has given us can offer that.  Only the best thing.  Only Christ.

Christ is the best comfort that makes all the other comforts seem small by comparison.

He is the sacrifice given for you that makes all your sacrifices for Him needless.

His blood alone gives you peace with God.

The old is still good.  There’s no shame in admitting that.  But good is not good enough.  It has to be Christ, or it’s not God’s best.

And thank God that He gave us Christ: His very best.

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

Hebrews 9:15