New Beginnings: The Work Of The Holy SpiritSample

Let go of the old to embrace the new.

Journeying in scripture can be a great adventure if we put ourselves in the story. Imagine you were among the disciples: you’ve been with Jesus for three years and now, at the Passover Supper, Jesus promises something new, well “Someone” new. So often when we are told something is new, it is basically an improvement on an old design. But when God is doing something new, it’s like a new creation; something we’ve never experienced before. Though Jesus was telling His disciples there would be someone new, it did not really dawn on them what He meant. How many times in your life has God done something new in your life that was totally outside of your expectations and hopes?

The message on Sunday was framed around John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[a] who will never leave you.” (NLT) The context of this passage is Jesus preparing His disciples for His departure. He is basically saying, “I need to leave so that my replacement can come.” The replacement is the third member of the God Head (Trinity), The Holy Spirit. He will never leave us, unlike Jesus needing to leave so that we all could benefit! 

This is a principle that is true in so many aspects of life. In order to gain something new, we have to let go of the old. In order for there to be a harvest, the growth from the previous season has to be removed. In order to gain “big teeth” you need to lose your “milk teeth”. In order to enter adulthood, we need to leave home. In order to take that promotion, you need to leave your previous role. Another example would be needing to let go of this life when we die so that we can enter the next life. Letting go of the old so as to gain the new is a repeated theme right through life.

The challenge with entering the new is that it’s bittersweet. The sadness of saying goodbye, the letting go of the familiar and what we know so that we can be ready to embrace the new. The disciples had to let go of the physical interactions with Jesus, the dreams and hopes they had developed as being part of Jesus’ inner circle. They had to grieve that loss, they had to welcome change so that they could appreciate and enjoy the new.

The challenge with new things is that they are often beyond our imagination. And because they are beyond our imagination, we would prefer the comfort of the familiar! This COVID-19 season is an invitation from God for us, His followers, to accept our loss (whatever it may be) and begin the journey of allowing God to birth something new in us and through us for this world.

Application: In prayer today, ask Jesus to give you the grace to let go of the old - your life, dreams, expectations and goals before COVID-19 - and ask Him for the grace to patiently wait on the new things He wants to work in your life. Watch your speech! Commit to complaining less and rather allow Him to counsel you with what He wants to form on the inside of you.