The Revolution of Us: Created and Re-created for Joy in Christ
At this time of year there’s always a cozy chat with my boss. We look at the year that’s gone and look to the year coming. He always asks me what I’d like to focus on for the year ahead. “It’s a whole new year!” he exclaimed optimistically—likely with reference to the apocalyptic run of events we’ve had here in Australia. It began with bushfires and cycled through floods, storms, coronavirus, and now back to bushfires again.
I was a bit stumped. Mostly because my “whole new year” had started not in January but in October—not that he knew that. It was in October that I watched my kids at the beach having crazy amounts of fun during the school holidays. It suddenly struck me that, three years into becoming a single parent, I had turned a corner. I was content and unafraid. For the first time in three years, I felt confident about the future and our ability to meet what was on the path ahead. Until that point, I had leaned wholly and completely on God. I had no strength or ability. The only thing I could do was put one foot in front of the other each day. Now, I felt I was in a position to tell God I was ready for the next chapter he had planned for me.
So my boss’s question gave me pause. Am I supposed to have another new beginning because January is coming up? How do new beginnings happen? Are new beginnings something that happen to us or something we plan and bring into being? Are they a long time coming or sudden and revolutionary?
Making Our History
In the ancient world, new beginnings were frequently marked with the minting of new coinage. The symbols and imagery of a new ruler were often marked with years that related to the reign. For example, Year 1 of the reign of Tiberius was significant and can be found etched into coins of that time. Even the Jewish authorities followed this practice when, during the revolt in Jerusalem in AD 66–70, years 1, 2, and 3 denoted the years of revolution against Rome.
I was created in Jesus 15 years ago, so I suppose any coinage I minted would read Year 15 in the reign of Jesus. But then there was another new beginning when I got divorced and had to work out how to navigate life in this new situation. God re-created me as a full-time working single mum and built my house anew through and in him. Then the next new beginning came in that October with the school holidays I mentioned before.
“Our new beginnings, while they may reflect new chapters, also need to reflect how far God has brought us.”
While these new beginnings may be tragic or joyful, they are yet a product of history, and history should not be forgotten. Starting a new coinage at Year 1 may have been a ruler’s method of attempting to wipe out whatever came before and start from a blank slate. But we aren’t blank slates. We are still the people that God created and our new beginnings, while they may reflect new chapters, also need to reflect how far God has brought us.
Remembering God’s Works
God himself reminds the people in Deuteronomy 8:10–20 not to forget where they came from. When things are going well, and we forget where we came from, we also forget what God has done for us. When we erase that from our memories, we lose our understanding of our salvation, and in so doing, we lose sight of God’s sovereignty, power, and mercy.
Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . . Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. (Deut. 8:11–14, 17–18a ESV)
In the New Testament too, Paul reminds the Corinthians not to be proud or arrogant over other sinners since they too have been rescued by grace. Paul writes, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11 ESV). Elsewhere Paul says, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6 ESV).
This is the backdrop to all our new chapters. I say that deliberately because what becomes clear in Scripture is that while we are new creations in Christ, our lives are a continuum. We don’t need new coins to be struck. Our lives ebb and flow as they’re woven along the strands of God’s outplaying purposes. From the very beginning, when God spoke the world into being and walked in the garden with his people (Gen. 3:8), to the very end when God will walk with his people again (Rev. 21:3), we will live a series of re-creations at his hands as he fulfills his plans for us and for his kingdom.
Rejoicing in the Journey
These re-creations can be sudden or occur over time, as I realized while watching my boys throw seaweed at each other in October. God had been shaping and molding me, and I hadn’t really realized until that moment. But each re-creation feels like a revolution. Not a military take over so much as a full circle journey around the sun—a time completed and having reached its full conclusion—now ready for the next revolution.
This type of new beginning is different than what my boss was imagining. The world thinks progress is an upward motion, a series of steps. Realistically, it’s more like the maze of Snakes and Ladders. You can stretch and rise but you can also fall. There doesn’t appear to be much connection between where you were, where you are, and where you are going. There is a precariousness that brings uncertainty, and with uncertainty, anxiety. It requires us to guard our positions. The way of the world may also require us to be in competition with others.
“The world thinks progress is an upward motion, a series of steps. Realistically, it’s more like the maze of Snakes and Ladders. You can stretch and rise but you can also fall. ”
Christian wisdom, on the other hand, means we can be open handed in our approach and be joyful in the revolutions of our lives, knowing that God is in control and the whole journey is within his perfect plan. We know our little piece of the story—we know and can reflect on where we were before he brought us to him, we can reflect on where we are now, and we can engage with where we need to keep throwing off everything that hinders. But there is also a bigger story that only God knows. Our God was there before the beginning and will be there after the end. He knows all, plans all, and brings all into being. He creates and re-creates. Nothing is beneath his notice or beyond his power. We need only remember. If we remember, we can embrace his revolutions in our lives faithfully, obediently, and joyfully.
Ruth Baker lives in western Sydney with her two little boys and a dog. She is an environmental consultant by day and blogs at Meet Me Where I Am in her spare time. She studied at Sydney Missionary and Bible College and continues to pursue theological study as a hobby. She also writes regularly for The Gospel Coalition Australia and Matthias Media’s GoThereFor.com platform and is author of Are We There Yet?