The Old Ways

By saying, a new covenant, He has declared that the first is old. - Hebrews 8:13

No one likes to be told that they have been doing things the wrong way, especially when they thought they were doing things right!

God, through His prophets, informed Israel that the old covenant was temporary and a day would come when it would be replaced by a new, eternal one. Of course, all the Israelites had ever known was the covenant God had made with Abraham and later sealed by Moses on Sinai. It wasn't "old" to them at all! In fact, it defined all Israel as a people and culture. It gave them an identity.

We face "old culture" challenges in the church every day. What once had meaning can easily become empty ritual. It isn't that "religion" by definition is "bad," just that it can become empty. The answer is to reinvest, renew, or simply replace old dead practices with meaningful, heartfelt, authentic activity. In the same way that God's new covenant validated the old as its predecessor, new traditions can do the same.

For some, the "old ways" will always be an issue of identity, not theology. The key is to reestablish the good biblical theology in our practices and hopefully reveal that same faith in something fresh and new.

It's hard to rest knowing that millions of people merely carry on religious traditions but don't actually reach God. - Aiden Wilson Tozer