It’s an odd question to ask – “is new in the way”?
- In the way of what? What is the context?
- What is the new? In what way is it new?
Being found by God is a new experience. We might have tried different ways to “find” God, in any case, we have determined in our mind, and perhaps in our actions, we have done things that we hope help us find God. But ultimately when God reveals himself to us, that we have tried to do ourselves becomes so insigficant because of the unceasing grace, love and mercy of God. It’s a kind of “new” that words cannot describe.
Reflecting on this, some of us find facing new things very difficult. We feel we are fine with the same old patterns and habits, even if the new things are good, better, or etc., we can decide not to have it, or acquire it. What gets problematic is this: each of us has a living relationship with God. This means we are living testimony for him to others. What happens when there are new people in our church or worship network that by the nature of things are not going to be people exactly like any of us. In other words, there are many aspects of this people who are “new” to us. In truth, the entirety of the new “person” is new to us. Do we make effort to know the new person? Or do we let them be and only interact when it becomes really necessary?
I think those questions are not that thought provoking. There are anything fundamentally wrong with knowing new people. The greater problem is that when we don’t get on with these relatively new people, are they are beginning to take responsibility. This can make things worse because we also don’t like the way to discharge their responsibility. Sometimes, words can explain why we find it difficult to “accept” these people and who they are; other times, or most times, we can pinpoint anything particular, but it’s a range of a manner of things we just don’t get on with these people. At the end, we try our best to interact with these people. Even when they have not wronged us, nor vice versa.
We are not “lost” when God found us. We are “found” people. We are so thankful and indebted to God for saving us. If we are not able to let loose a little bit of our own “guard” and be more open to developing personal relationship with new people, we might not have fully grasped the enormity of the price Jesus paid to ensure that we are safe back in his fold.
