Do you cling to the old ways? Do you enjoy the new technologies? How are you combining the uses of both? Are the old ways your foundation while the new technologies excite you and ignite new possibilities? Do you lean more toward one or the other?
As we age, we often look back to the way things were with nostalgia. We may have been taught foundational principles as a child that we still use today. Yet, we observe the changes taking place all around us. There are more inventions happening faster now than there ever has.
Jesus does not dismiss the old when speaking of the new. He refers to both. He states that when a scribe, who was someone very knowledgeable in God’s law, became a disciple of His, they connected and brought forward both the new and the old. Jesus is speaking of revealing the connections between the two. The foundational understanding of God from his commands and teaching in the Old Testament and the revealing of their true meaning in Jesus’s teaching in the New Testament. The new does not invalidate the old.
Today, we are still learning. There are new archaeological discoveries about the first century. There is improved understanding of the meaning of the language of that time. We know more now about the lifestyles of the people. We can use today’s tools, such as computers, the internet, easy video creation to reach more people. Jesus is saying we are not to stay stuck in our old ways but embrace the new without stepping away from the foundation.
I pray we all hold onto the foundational teachings of God. I pray we continue to learn from new discoveries. I pray each one of us will use new ways of reaching others to spread the gospel of Jesus. Hold onto to foundational teachings. Continue to learn. Use new ways to spread the gospel.
Matthew 13:52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Marty Pressey 