Have you ever driven a brand-new vehicle? 

Last summer my family leased a brand-new vehicle. We had never done that before. We had always purchased used vehicles that were 2-3 years old. We had never had something that was brand new.  It has been fun breaking in the new vehicle, pulling the mylar protector off the dashboard, learning about all the new things this vehicle can do that the old one can’t, and enjoying that new car smell. After about three months of driving only the new vehicle, I had to run to the store. The new vehicle was blocked in the garage so I took the old one.

I climbed in my Equinox, which I had owned for 5 years, adjusted the seat and the mirrors (everyone who’d driven it in the months since is shorter than me), and started my trek to the store. I was about a block from the house when I had this feeling come over me and I thought “Oh, I miss this, I love this vehicle, I should start driving this vehicle again.”  While I did go back to driving the new vehicle, I have to admit that I have been driving the Equinox more often ever since – it’s familiar, it’s comfortable, and I’m used to it.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever had something new, but kept using the old thing because it’s more comfortable, it’s familiar, or you are just used to it?  We all have probably done it at one time or another. Sometimes we do it with pens, with phones, with clothes, and sometimes even vehicles. Sometimes we even do it with our spiritual life.  

1 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  Jesus promises a brand-new life, but sometimes we don’t embrace this new life because the old, the familiar, the comfortable, or what we are just used to beckon us to take the old life for a drive again. This weekend we are beginning a new teaching series called “Brand New” which focuses on discovering the new life that Jesus is inviting us to live.  Over the next 7 weeks, we are going to discover what it really means to live the new life Jesus is offering.  I hope you will join us this weekend as we begin to see life in a brand-new way.

See you Sunday,

Pastor Kirk