Yesterday as I headed into Trinity for my first full day in the office, it hit me just how much of our lives have changed. It seems as if everything is new. I was walking and riding a commuter train, not driving my pick up truck. In fact I have not driven since last Wednesday morning. We live in an apartment, not a house. Anytime Molly goes outside, we can't just let her out. We take her for a walk. The congregation is new. The town is new. The country is new. The continent is new. The culture is new. The language is new. The brands in the stores are new. The other day I saw M&Ms in the store. I was so excited to find something familiar from home that I bought a bag. To my surprise, even the M&Ms tasted different. (They tasted better!)
With everything so new to me, I have for past couple of days felt very disoriented... flustered... out of sorts...definitely out of my comfort zone. As I walked along Rev. 21:5 came to mind. The LORD says, "Behold I am making everything new!" As I thought about that passage I wondered, "Is this what the new creation will be like? When God raises us up on the last day is this how we will feel - disoriented? Will everything be so new that we will feel out of sorts?"
I don't think so. You see what makes this new experience different from the world to come, is me. Even though everything around me has changed, I haven't changed. Everyone tells me that I will change... that living internationally will broaden me in ways I can't even imagine. But that will take time. That will be a process. Right now I haven't changed. That's why all the newness around me is disorienting.
Two things strike me about that. Just as Linda and I are going through a process of change as we adjust to living in a new land... so all of us as Christians are going through the same process. God is changing us... making us ready for the new heaven and new earth He has prepared for us. Right now He is in the process of making us new. He is slowly through our lives putting to death our old sinful life, bringing to life a new you and a new me.
Then one day, and this is the second thing, when He is finished He will "make all things new." The Bible says it will happen in "a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." If there is any sense of disorientation, it won't be the disorientation of confusion. It will be the disorientation of wonder... This is will not go away over time. I think we will spend forever going, "Wow! Is this cool what God has done!" For everything will be changed... everything will be new. You and I will be new - no more sickness... no more crying... no dying... no more sin... no more pain. And for those of you who like me love chocolate I am betting that even the M&Ms will taste different... taste better!
