Jeremiah 6:16

As humans, we are always looking for the new. We have a creative streak in us that generates, searches for, and appreciates the new. We are convinced that old things can be done in a better way. Horses and wagons are upgraded to cars, we have email instead of letters, and philosophies change from pre-modernism to modernism to post-modernism. The world is shaped and moulded by new ideas, new inventions and new people. But the Bible takes a slightly different view:

‘Thus says the LORD:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’’ (Jeremiah 6:16)

God’s way has been known from the first times. And it hasn’t changed. His dealings with man have changed – from the epoch of Law to the epoch of Grace to the future time when He will reign on earth. But His plan for us have never changed, and neither has the way in which we should walk.

Too often we find ourselves looking for ‘new ideas’ or ‘fresh ideas’ in Christianity, to boost our appeal, or to make it more interesting, or just to satisfy our own thirst for change. But God isn’t interested in what’s ‘interesting’, ‘cool’, ‘exciting’, ‘politically correct’ or ‘modern’. He is interested in what is right and good. And what is right and good has been known in the past, in fact it has been known from the very first times when God revealed it to us. So, rather than following new and interesting ways, let us ‘ask for the old paths, where the good way is’.