Daily Devotional For December 6, 2025
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Behold, I am making everything new!” And he said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”Rev 21:5.
Do you really want God to make everything new? Aren’t there some things you like better when they are old? Isn’t that warm coat, with the familiar colors and the fraying threads in the collar, better than the latest fashions, with the colors that don’t quite suit you and the lack of features that you just can’t live without? Doesn’t that bald husband with the annoying leg twitch have features that you just wouldn’t trade for a new model? Any new model? Have you ever bought a new (or newer) car that just didn’t feel as right as the old one? Sometimes old is better. Old things can be reliable and practical. The known is often better than the unknown.
Not long ago the building I work in was made new. The old building was gutted to the core and a major addition added many offices and classrooms. But I miss my old office greatly. In the old office I had book shelves everywhere, even in the coat closet. Come to think of it, I had a closet in the old office, a place to hang a coat or a spare jacket, to store my graduation gown, to place an extra pair of shoes and an umbrella, just in case.
The new office has an extra large work space which I have industriously filled with clutter. But it doesn’t have as many drawers as my old, tiny desk and I have lost track of many papers as a result. The new office has space for far fewer books and I have had to place many of these at home, with confusion and inefficiency as a result. There is less space for files, so these too have been divided between home and office, with inevitable confusion and inefficiency.
But there is no going back. The powerful air handling in the new building means no more students sleeping in class because the air is hot, stuffy and stale (they have to come up with other excuses now). The technology of the new building allows us to explore teaching options that have improved learning a great deal. The configuration of the building has done wonders for the Seminary community, enhancing the quality of relationships among students and teachers. The suite of offices in which I work, in spite of their inefficiencies, is like a little piece of home away from home.
There is no going back. But I take comfort in the knowledge that in the new earth “I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor 13:12, NIV). When God makes all things new, He will preserve the best of the familiar. We will recognize the ones we love. Our surroundings will be perfectly suited to our needs. In heaven the new will be constantly renewed, yet the familiar will be preserved. The flaws will be gone. The joy will be complete. And I won’t miss the fraying threads.
Lord, I can’t wait to see that new world in which there will be no regrets.