Sometimes only new will do. Let me share a personal example. Years ago our family lived in a small, rural town, and we owned a home with grass on all four sides. That meant we had a LOT of grass to mow, and I don’t mind telling you, I dreaded doing it. I had a gas-powered lawnmower that I had to push, but it still took me forever (and a lot of sweat) to cut all of that grass every week. Often as I would be pushing my mower on a hot summer day, I would look up and see one of my neighbors, smiling, sitting comfortably on his riding lawnmower. I must admit it—I was envious. If I could just get one of those riding mowers, my life would be so much better! Or so I thought.

I knew we didn’t have the money to go out and buy one of those fancy riding lawnmowers, so I just kept pushing my old mower around week after week. Then it happened. One day we drove by a home that had an old, riding lawnmower with a “For Sale” sign on it. I stopped and asked about it, and the price was right. I soon owned my very own riding lawnmower! I knew it might need some repairs, but I am pretty handy with machines. I felt confident that whatever didn’t work, I could fix.

I was partly right. I could fix most of the things that needed fixing, but there turned out to be an endless number of parts to be replaced and adjustments to be made. That machine was really old and worn out. It is safe to say that I spent more time fixing that lawnmower than I ever spent using it. This went on for many months. Every time I fixed a problem, I believed my lawnmower would now become reliable. That never happened. It was a lost cause, and I finally had to admit defeat.

Sometimes trying to patch up old problems just won’t work. There are times when buying brand new is the only thing that will do. This is certainly true when it comes to our soul. I was thinking about this when I read Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” The Bible is saying that our human natures are so messed up that we need much more than a tune up. We need to be made completely new.

We need God to make us completely new on the inside because “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6); “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Even the great Apostle Paul said that apart from the newness that Christ gave him “nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18).

A story is told about a missionary who started sharing a primitive hut with a native. He became disgusted because he had to sit on a filthy dirt floor. He suggested that they scrub the dirty floor with soap and water, but his roommate replied, “The floor is just clay—packed down and dry. Add water, and it turns to mud. The more you try to wash it, the worse the mess becomes!”

Our hearts are like that clay floor. They are hard and dirty and the attempts we make to clean them up just makes them worse. That’s why God doesn’t offer to make us better—He offers to make us NEW. Completely new! Jesus even told a highly respected religious person that he“… must be born again” (John 3:7). Even that hard-working religious man had an old nature that was beyond repair. He could not make himself good enough for God because “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight…” (Romans 3:20). He needed to be made completely new, and so do you and I.

When we start trusting Christ’s payment for our sin, He gives us many NEW things. For example, God promises to give us “a new heart and put a new spirit” in us (Ezekiel 36:26). We will also “gain new strength” (Isaiah 40:31), and then we will “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

I never did get a new riding lawnmower, but God has given me something better. I am very excited about the ways that God has made me a new person with new desires. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What a joy to be made completely new on the inside! God can make you new that way  too, if you will trust Christ to wash away all your sin. God has promised: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).