Get ready for the new...

          Last week I looked at the fact that the children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan river to enter the Promised Land. The Jordan river which stood in their way represented that threshold that they needed to cross over to receive all that God had promised them.
          This week, however, I want to focus a little bit more on this. They were about to enter something new, a way they had never gone before (Joshua 3:4) just like we have entered a new year, a way we have never been before. However, besides the other instructions given for crossing over, Joshua told the people to do something in preparation for crossing over – he told them to sanctify themselves. I looked up this word and I found a variety of meanings: to make or pronounce clean, to consecrate, to dedicate, to purify, to prepare. In fact, Joshua’s exact words were: “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5). In short, they could not simply cross over, but they had to prepare themselves for this new era in their lives.
          I know we may like to talk about all the new things we expect and hope God to do in the new year. We may even quote scriptures to this effect: “Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth, shall ye not know it?” (Isaiah 43:19) But what if we too need to prepare ourselves for the new thing that God wants to do in our lives? It is so nice to quote and declare that for the new year God is going to do something new, but what if we aren’t even ready to receive that new thing? What if we too have to prepare our minds and hearts to receive what God has for us? What if the new thing God is going to do is “in” us?! 
          I am reminded of the parable in the New Testament of new wine being put into new bottles (Matthew 9:17). The idea is that if you put new wine into old bottles the bottles will break and the wine would spill out but if you put that new wine into new bottles both are preserved. 
          I don’t doubt that God wants to do something new in our lives but I believe that we need to be ready to receive it or else it may not benefit us in the way that it should. It is nice to look forward with hope and expectation for something new, something better than what we had before but maybe there are some things we need to get rid of in order to make room for the new. I liken this to my Christmas cleaning last year when part of the process was to give away some clothes that I no longer used to others who would benefit more from their use. In this way I was able to make room for new things I had received. Many times we want to hold on to both the old and the new but we can’t. If I had held on to the old there would have been no place for the new. Maybe it’s the same in our lives that the things we need to get rid of are preventing us from being able to receive and enjoy the new things that God has for us.
          My encouragement therefore in this season of new expectations is that we let go of those “old” things that are preventing us from being able to receive and experience the new things God has for us. Maybe some of us need to get rid of bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness because these are hindering us from receiving God’s best for us. Maybe it’s even fear, doubt, worry, negative words and thinking that we need to let go of in order to receive what God has for us. Maybe, in short, we are standing in our own way of receiving something new from God and we need to “sanctify” ourselves, prepare ourselves for all that God has ordained for us to have.
          So I encourage you today to do yourself a favour and let go in order to receive. Let go of those things that may be hindering you from receiving the new thing or things God has for you. God still desires to give us His best but we have to be ready to receive it!
          If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Saviour I encourage you to do so now. God is so willing and ready to give you His best but you have to be ready to receive it. Start by giving Him Your life and watch and see the amazing thing He is going to do with it. 

---