We’ve got a brand new year on our hands, and actually it’s more than that, it’s a new decade we are facing. It’s like having a whole new set of numbers to work with. I think with each New Year there is a general sense of optimism that most people possess. Even with unsettling global issues and difficult and uncertain economic times, there is just something about the turning of the calendar that stirs hope for tomorrow… we are expecting something new.

As a society, we like “new”. We’ve grown accustomed to having the latest and greatest whenever it becomes available. I saw a bumper sticker recently that read, “Insatiable is Unsustainable”. There is some truth to that when you consider our appetites for new things. And if you are one of those people who has an insatiable desire for every new gadget that becomes available, then it will cost you greatly and it will carry with it a great deal of dissatisfaction and frustration in the end. For example, as soon as you get the latest GPS device, golf club, iphone, laptop or whatever, it’s only a matter of months before a new one is available that has more G’s… that’s not just a network term, it also stands for gigs, graphics, grip or just plain goodness. And all of that is unsustainable unless you have unlimited resources.

It may be hard to imagine, but there is a way to experience everything new. It also involves an insatiable appetite, but this “new” is sustainable. However, it’s only by virtue of our pursuit not our ability to purchase. I am of course referring to a spiritual newness. The word new in the Greek is Kainos, and it simply means, that which is previously unknown, or the latest. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that “when we belong to Christ, we are new creations and all things become new.” This is not only referring to the miracle of regeneration in our spirits that produces new life in us, but also a process of experiencing newness and becoming new in ways that only God can pull off.

As believers, we are promised that “the mercies and grace from God are fresh and new every day”. We are told, “Today, if you will hear His voice”, and “He who has an ear let him hear”. In technological terms, there are spiritual updates and service packs available for download everyday if we really want something new. Is it possible that we are running on old systems in a new day simply because we lack an insatiable desire for the Lord? Don’t miss out on the new things that God wants to share with you and accomplish through you in 2010!

Greg Richards is Senior Pastor of Life Church in Kaufman. www.yourlifechurch.com