Daily Devotion

Saturday, March 13, 2026  

Today's Scripture
2 Corinthians 5:17

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!

Reflection

Utilizing lectio divina to read this line of scripture over and over and internalize the idea that “everything old has passed away,” it actually is quite terrifying. If “everything old” equals everything we know, that doesn’t sound fun or helpful at all. I like some of the “old” things in my life. The things I’ve worked so hard to create and pour into, like my routine, my home, my family, my friends, my church.

It’s tempting to feel as though this is a trite vindication of God to simply “put a bow on it” that now everything is, just like that, made new. Maybe I don’t want new, God, maybe old is comfortable and has actually served me quite well, thank you very much.

But that’s the point during this Lenten season, isn’t it? To look over what is old and discern what is serving you — more importantly, serving God through you. What can we bestow back to God to lift us up and transform us? Because this “new” isn’t just a bow, this new isn’t trite; this new is regeneration, this new is Christ. It’s transformational. It’s as old as the earth and as new as the warm spring breeze we wait for with bated breath in Chicago.

If God is giving us the gift of new life, of transformation — an Easter promise — what promise do you hope to bring?

Prayer

Loving and gracious God, this is part of Lent, a giving up of something. Chocolate, alcohol, meat, i.e., a diet of some form. But what if this Lenten season, you help us discern what no longer serves me? Something that feels old, rusty, and dusty, and you help me take it from shadow to light. Can you help us to recognize the usefulness these old things had in our lives and instead give it a different place of honor by transforming it into something remade, repurposed, regenerated? Something that can serve you? Thank you for the blessings of this life, even if they masquerade as challenges, even if they masquerade as despair, because we know that the promise of Easter morning is that in you all things are made new. Amen.

Written by Jessica Wang, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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