As Good As New

📅 June 14, 2020

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

You’ve probably heard this motto (credited to President Calvin Coolidge) at least once…most likely from a grandparent or great grandparent with keen memories of the Great Depression.

Most of us tend to live this way, unless we are facing an emergency or preparing for a special occasion. We do not make it a habit to hurry out and buy something new when we can get by on what we already have.

The using up and wearing out of tangible, physical articles is one matter.

Wearing out your mind or heart or will is another issue entirely.

If a person has suffered long—for any number of reasons—being “worn out” may eventually lead to disastrous consequences.   

The good news is: “renewal” is available—a promise found in a number of places in the Bible. 

II Corinthians 4: 16. …though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Ephesians 4:22-24. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Romans 12: 1- 2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Renew: make full or complete again by supplying what is lacking.

If today, you are exhausted, worn out, used up, here are some suggestions for renewing your mind.

Wait on the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.

When we pray, we expect a “yes” or “no” answer according to our timetable. But these are not the only options. Many times the answer is “wait.”

Think about it: isn’t this the answer you most often give a child who makes a request? For example: he may want a new bicycle. You intend to give him one for his birthday. When the bike does not appear in his timeframe, he may well assume your answer is “no.”

You know all along your answer is “yes.” In fact, the bike may be hidden at that very moment in a friend’s garage.

The answer is not “no.” It is “wait.”

Is it “good for” the child to learn patience and that he cannot always have what he wants when he wants it?

Perhaps this is the lesson God is teaching us.

Confess Sin. “Keep short accounts with God.”

Psalm 51:10. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity…cleanse me from my sin…For I acknowledge my transgressions…Purge me with hyssop…wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

To keep from being worn out, it is essential to be right with God. This is not only an “outer” rightness, where we abstain from sinful practices, but an “inner” rightness, where the thoughts of our hearts are pure, our attitude toward others is compassionate and loving (no matter how they feel about us or treat us) and we are nursing no hidden grudges or agendas to “get even” somehow…someday.   

II Corinthians 7: 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

A wrong “spirit” may very well be what is wearing us out and we may not even realize it. 

Praise the Lord for His Provision

Psalm 103:5. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life, Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

No matter what age we are, we are every last one of us growing older every day and wrestling against that fact with varying degrees of energy.

Want to stay youthful? Then “Bless the Lord.”

Remember and rehearse His blessings, His forgiveness, His healing.

Praise Him today…no matter what…without qualification and without reservation.

Have your youth renewed.

Focus on the Unseen

II Corinthians 4:17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Remember: God is “doing ten thousand things you know nothing about.” Be confident He is at work to bring about His plan for your life.

A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says he cannot stand any more. God goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight. Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is love. You cannot see Him just now, you cannot understand what He is doing, but you know him. Faith is the heroic effort of your life; you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God. Oswald Chambers

3 Comments

  1. LaRue Arnold

    Amen

    Reply
  2. Teresa Haney

    Thank You for this, Holly! God HAS been renewing my strength lately and given me “handfuls of Grace” in unexpected places.
    Our Pastor also quoted Oswald Chambers in his message this morning. We, as Christians in God’s hands, were compared to arrows in the hands of the archer. The archer knows where he is sending the arrow. The arrow doesn’t have to know; it just needs to submit to the will of the archer. As Christians, we should do no less.

    Reply

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Holly Bebernitz

Native Texan Holly Bebernitz moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1967. After thirty years of teaching speech, English, and history on the secondary and college levels, she retired from classroom teaching to become a full-time grandmother. The change in schedule allowed the time needed to complete the novel she had begun writing in 1998. When Trevorode the Defender was published in March 2013, the author realized the story of the Magnolia Arms was not yet complete.

 

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Semi-Finalist - 2021 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition - Florida Writer's Association