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Faith Focus: The God who renews

As contradictory as it may seem, I like older, traditional things – fixer-upper homes, history museums, classic roast coffee – but I tend to also like new experiences: Visiting places I’ve never seen; learning a fresh skill; meeting new people. Combining those two preferences, maybe visiting a history museum for the first time while drinking coffee, makes for an enjoyable day. 

For many of us, though, new can also be a little scary. New is change. New is the unknown. New is different. As we face new challenges every day, we have a choice: We can face them with fear, or we can choose to meet them with hope and excitement. The choice lies in how we think about God. 

The next time you’re faced with the fear of change, look at it from this perspective: God is the creator of all things new. He created the earth and heavens and all things in them, including us. His vivid imagination created beautiful flowers, blue oceans and countless species of animals – even the three-toed sloth – solely by speaking them into existence. Why fear new? We serve the God of new.   

So it’s no surprise that the God of new is also the God who renews, the One who makes all things new again. In the New Testament, Jesus lived a ministry of renewal, healing bodies, mending hearts and restoring hope. And when he died on the cross, the power of God resurrected him. Think about it. God can renew dead things into life. He has power over death. And Scripture says that, as believers, we have that same power given to us. 

So as we start a fresh week looking for physical, emotional and spiritual renewal, we need not look anywhere else but to the God of renewal. He can renew us with the same eternal power that created the universe and has the power over death. That’s a lot more powerful than classic roast coffee. 

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” –Romans 8:11

Written by Russ Dilday, associate vice president for public relations for Buckner International.  

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