Under New Management

As I was driving today, I couldn't help noticing a sign outside a restaurant that read "Under new management" in bold, colored letters. The owners were trying to convey the message that, even though the restaurant looked the same, perhaps even had a similar menu, something was definitely different. It wasn't easy to spot the change from a distance. My first impulse was to go inside and question why things had to change. Why the new owners couldn't just pick up where the former left off, keeping it "business as usual". The answers were simple: the former owners went bankrupt; they lost touch with what was important; their accounts were out of order. In order to bring it back to its former glory, the old had to be replaced with the new. Some things, like the design, had to change gradually so others could become accustomed to it. Others needed immediate attention. But it had to come "under new management" for it to be effective.

That's the same way it is with us, Beloved, when we finally come into a relationship with God: we have to come under new management...God's management. It can't be business as usual! God places a sign outside our hearts and begins to phase out the old things, those things which caused spiritual bankruptcy; those "accounts" in our lives that were in disarray. They're the past. They are not important any longer, nor do they have any bearing on God's ability to bring about change in our lives.