COVID-19 has many people talking about the “new normal.” In today’s podcast, I want to talk about letting go of the “old normal,” as we learn to adapt to a world in transition. To do this, I want to look at the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus, who taught us to embrace the new thing that God was doing in the history of the world
And, when I think of history in transition, I think of John the Baptist standing in the waters of the Jordan river, announcing the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the kingdom of the God, and preaching that men should repent.
(And when I think of John the Baptist, I can’t help but think of Charlton Heston playing the role of that Biblical character in the movie, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” )
The World Has Changed
Whether you are religious or not, the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ revolutionized the world. It changed the outlook of countless people. It prepared men for the sweeping away of the prior ways the world thought about religion, God, and everyday life.
Today, we hear much about “the new normal.” And I think most of us have grown sick and tired of such. We still very much yearn for what I call the “old normal.” We want to go back to the way things used to be.
However, just as John the Baptist and Jesus represented a break with an old way of life, I think COVID-19 has done that for us in the history of the world.
And, instead of longing in our hearts for that old order and an old way of life, we need to “repent.” We need to let go of everything that came before this new page in history. But such will never happen so long as we try to hold on and cling to what is in the past. While the future and all its unknowns might be scary to us, we need to die to it.
As Christians, I think we need to stop yearning for a return to the old normal. As Christians, we must embrace the cross, and continually die and resurrect. We must be crucified to this world, and walk in the newness of the life of Christ. We need to embrace whatever changes are happening in this world, and divorce our hearts and minds to whatever was in the past, even the good things. Instead, we need to embrace the new world that Jesus Christ is creating.
In today’s podcast, I talk about these things in greater detail. Be sure to listen above.
Scriptures Discussed On Today’s Podcast
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Galatians 6:14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
