A New Look

Out there where the Jordan River touched the wilderness, John the Baptist preached a message declaring that God was about to do something new.  When he directed his own disciples to the One he identified as "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), he provided a visualization of what it was that God was not about to do, but doing.  Something that had never before happened on the earth was about to happen.  Or, perhaps, it is more appropriate to say that Someone who had never happened on the earth was about to happen.

 

One of the things which has been lost to us in the passing of the gospel story through the centuries as well as the living with it for a lifetime is its freshness.  For us there is nothing new about it.  It is an old story that we have heard more times than we can count and every time we hear it, we already know how it is going to end.  The result of such familiarity is that we often lose the ability to really hear it, or to hear it without past remembrances wiping out the possibility of a fresh and new Word being proclaimed to us in the midst of it. 

 

Rediscovering that freshness is not as easy as deciding to read one of the gospels again.  It will surely be something which will require much prayer.  I often remember some writer whose name is beyond recall at the moment who suggested praying, "Lord, what do You want to say to me today through this Word?"  It will likely mean a slower reading that has inspiration as its goal instead of finding some new nugget of information.   A notebook for questions that probe the soul instead of searching a commentary can be helpful in slowing us down.  Whatever it might take, this is a season for slowing down and figuring out what new thing God might be trying to do in our life.  Whatever it might take is more than worth it.