A New You

Everything New

February has arrived! 2022 isn’t so new anymore, but it wasn’t long ago that we were welcoming January with its abundant opportunities to make this new year the best year ever.  According to just about EVERY turn-of-the-year advertisement, flyer, and post, a new year means a Brand New You!  Did you resolve to adopt a habit or adapt a routine in order to become a new you? 

A new year – a New You!  The not-so-subtle messages imply that the journey to a New You begins with a few simple steps. Try this new diet!  Use this new tool to increase your productivity!  Listen to these new tips to organize your life.  Adopt these new habits in order to improve mindfulness, to declutter, to say no, to save money.  Learn a new skill, explore a new place, take up a new hobby, implement a new morning routine.  You’ll be a New You before you know it!  

Out with the old and in with the new, right?  New is better, isn’t it?  Don’t you want to be a New You? 

New Is Everything

The world pounds us with the idea that in order to be our best selves, not only must we become a new version of ourselves, we must also acquire all that is new.  Outdated is unacceptable.  Social media posts accuse (and convict) us of having outdated kitchens with tired decorating trends.  Last year’s new clothes are already, yes, SO last year.  The newest, fanciest, and obviously best options can be ours if we trade in a vehicle for the most recent model.  A New You is possible with the right choice of a new bed, or new refrigerator, or newest model cell phone!  (Can a person possibly even function using a phone with a model name that ends in only a single-digit number?)

There is no denying the beneficial effects that come from modifying unhealthy habits or simplifying an over-busy life.  The time comes where upgrading certain possessions is a necessity.  There is nothing inherently wrong with trying to make one’s life better or more comfortable.

But do those actions or purchases truly result in the New You each of us searches for?  Even those who make significant and beneficial life changes on the quest towards newness surely retain many or most of the struggles and dissatisfactions of their old selves. 

I’m guilty.  Too often, I fall into the trap that new is better.  I determine that I will make a change to become a better version of myself.  As it so happens, I typically determine that I will make the same change I committed to last year but failed to actually bring about.

Is there not some irony in the fact that each new year brings about the same old ideas of becoming a new you?  

“There is nothing new under the sun,” Ezekiel tells us.  “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again.” 

New is Here Now

We search for what is new and better to find the fulfillment that this world is unable to provide.  We inherently know that changes must be made.  No change, though, satisfies our search for fulfillment.

Except.

Except for the change that took place without any personal resolve or calendar-change commitment.  

2 Corinthians 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come!

We are born as enemies of God with no hope on our own of reconciliation.  By nature, we are completely incapable of making anything good of ourselves.  We can resolve all we want to be the best versions of ourselves, yet we will never be able to throw off all that holds us back.  Sin and its consequences leave us struggling to no end to find peace with ourselves, and more importantly peace with God. 

So God sent his Son.  Jesus did what we could not and lived a life that had no need for improvement.  He lived the perfect life that we could not and gifted it to each of us; he suffered the death that each of us deserves, erasing the punishment we had earned.

The Only New That Matters

In Christ, you and I have each become a new creation, a New You!  Because of Christ, the new has come; the new is here now!  

Now we are empowered “to be renewed continually in the spirit of [our] mind[s], and to put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:23-24

Living as a new creation in Christ, the best New You each of us could possibly be, sets us free from the endless struggle to become something new.  It has already been done!  Without the shackles of perpetual inadequacy, we gain a new perspective on all that we do and how we live.

Let go of the guilt of failed resolutions.  Rejoice, instead, that you are a new creation in Christ, forgiven for your failures and shortcomings.  Focus on the joy of knowing that he has made you new.  It is a newness that has withstood the test of time and lasts into eternity, where, as Isaiah tells us, the Lord “creates new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered. They will not come to mind.”

A New Mindset

So what am I to do in the meantime with my extra pounds or the unsettling clutter that surrounds me?  It isn’t wrong to work on such things, after all.

But I can put them lower on the priority list.  Prioritize recognizing who I am in Christ.  Study his will for my life. Emphasize the importance of carrying out his will.   Recognize that my true worth cannot be increased through any purchase, physical change, or new habit.  Confess my daily failures and trust that Christ has made me new. I am a New You!