All Things Become New????

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is perhaps my favorite verse in the Bible. I have a lot of reasons, but the most important one is that it was this verse that my five year old daughter and her Sunday School class recited before their church the very first time I visited that church...which she had been going to on a church bus which came around every week...thank you Nick and Dania for all the sacrifices that you endured to make and keep that bus route a reality. Sorry I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have at the time. Thank you, brother Melvin for driving that bus.

But today, I think about that verse with a practical application that doesn't really have anything to with the Lord. Nothing to even do with christianity (feel free to correct me should the Lord show you some truth I've missed)...but with life....and our apparent need for all things new.

The apostle Paul once said of the Greeks, the Athenians in particular at Acts 17:21 that they spent all their time in search of something new, anything new...it was of course a distraction to keep them away from thinking about the things in life which really matter.
I guess Americans and probably a lot of other nationalities have that same tendency.

I'm here to tell you that "new" isnt always what it's cracked up to be.

I pulled an ancient wringer washer out of a basement a few days ago. It had apparently been there since Gerald Ford was President. Maybe longer than that even.

It was grimy and dusty and there was rust all over the outside of the motor housing and some rust here and there throughout, but it looked pretty sturdy. Cosmetically it wasnt all that bad. I'm guessing it had been built sometime during the 1960's.

I was pretty sure it was no longer in running condition. The hose for the water pump had been cut away and with all those gross cobwebs underneath and that wet, musty disgusting basement there is no way that old thing was running...so when I got it home I put it out on the corner by the road with a For Sale sign...never plugged it in to check. I figured maybe an Amishman might pass by and buy it and change the motor...or someone might want it for a strange lawn or porch ornament. You never know these days.

Sure enough, after a few days someone called about it. I told them everything I knew about it. Told them I didnt think it was running, but that I hadn't checked for sure.
Well, they showed up the next day and ....asked me to plug it in...

Don't you know it, that old girl started right up. Agitating away...the wringer worked great both forward and reverse...incredible. It actually seemed that the Agitator worked better than the machine we are using...so off it went. I put the $25 in my pocket and thought about that old washer most of the day...I thought sure it was dead.

Washing machines dont last 50 years...A lot of times the New machines dont last 5 years and here's this old piece of American made quality going off to someones house to be...yes...put into service again.
Lord willing and the Age doesnt come to a close, maybe in 50 years my grandson will pull it out of that basement...and maybe he'll plug it in...knowing that Old Things are often better than New.
One Old Thing I know that is better than any New Thing that comes along...it's that Old Old Story, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as preached by His servant Paul the apostle...Amen, amen and amen.