Old stuff

His loving concern never fails.  His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Things get old and worn out.  Toys unwrapped on Christmas Eve lose their appeal.  Clothes that were trendy last year get shoved to the back of the closet.  The car that you purchased new develops rust spots and doesn’t get washed as often as it used to.  Old things get boring.  Old things don’t work as well as they used to.  Old things aren’t on the cutting edge.  When something gets old, we are less likely to see it as valuable and more likely to view it as clutter.

But value is not always diminished by age.  Antiques are both old and expensive—their value increases with time.  New wine doesn’t have the quality of a bottle that is well aged.  When a master painter hangs up his brush in death, the works of art that he leaves behind are now unique and irreplaceable. 

We live in a disposable age.  People are more likely to buy new clothes instead of repairing a split seam or replacing a broken zipper.  It is cheaper to purchase a new toaster than to fix a broken one.  No one will give you money for an old computer.  We are fixated on new stuff, leaving old things unappreciated and neglected.

Nothing is older than God.  He predates everything in the universe—in fact, the universe is His creation.  God is the source of some very old ideas—love, truth, justice, service, faithfulness, and personal responsibility.  God gave us religion, religion filled with quaint notions like forgiveness, patience, the value of hard work, and honoring one’s word.  God gave us the old fashioned idea that we need Him and we need each other—no man is a self-sufficient island, no woman can do as she pleases without considering the repercussions of her behavior, no child can thrive without the guidance of authority. 

God is old, but age has not diminished Him.  God is old, but the things He stands for are eternal.  God is old, but He is not old fashioned.  Every day, He keeps our weak and corrupted world from dissolving into utter chaos.  Every day, He forgives sinners who beg Him to set aside His anger at their conduct and embrace them with His love. Nothing in our lives is more valuable than God—time will never reduce how much we need Him.