There is nothing new under the sun

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 ESV

Oh the wisdom in this statement. I quote this verse often when asked if things are worse today than they have ever been before. I use it because the world we live in has never really changed. Mankind has always been mankind.

Our behavior as humans has not changed we deal with the same issues today as Adam and Eve did after the fall. We have all heard the old saying “history repeats itself”. We’ve also heard that “those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. These old adages are meant to help us to see we need to change ourselves if we hope to see change.

As much as we know these truths, every generation of man struggles to be different, yet we end up being the same. That doesn’t mean that life is bleak, it means that we truly need Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins. The truth of the matter is, we are not capable of doing anything different in and of ourselves. We need Jesus sacrifice to erase our sins and the Holy Spirit to guide change in us. Consider the following verses...

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self  with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Colossians 3:8-10 ESV

When we come to Christ the changes begin, changes that take us away from human sinful behavior toward righteous and godly behavior. So, if we want to do something different in our generation, we need to turn our lives to God and follow the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles.

So today, let’s do something new under the sun. Turn from sin and turn toward God.

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman