“When in Rome . . .do as the Romans do.” Okay. But what about when you are in Athens? We watched Big Fat Greek Wedding with our daughter. Remember the grumpy father who was a master of greek etymology and morphology saying to his daughter, “You should get married . . . you are so old.” We laughed and reassured our daughter that she did not need to get married – for a long, long, long, long time. On the way home we watched the sequel (which in my opinion is not as good as the original).
What do we do with the old? We know people who hold on to everything and carefully store it, just in case. Others are better at getting rid of things. Today my brothers and I share the unenviable task of sifting the things we put in storage for our mom. The good news is we get to take her to lunch afterward. What do we do with the old in our lives? Paul taught the Corinthians that by virtue of being Christians they had become a new creation. Old things had passed away. All things had become new. Has that happened to you?
Louisa Fletcher writes in one of my favorite poems,
“How I wish there were some wonderful place
called the land of beginning again,
where all of our mistakes
and all of our heartaches
And all of our poor selfish griefs
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
Never to be put on again.”
Paul teaches us that there is such a place: at the cross. What old pain or grief can you release today into the hands of our loving heavenly Father? How will you put on the new life Christ has given you? Because you are in Christ, you are a new creation. Put off the old. Put on the new.
