New and Improved

“New and improved.” These three words always arouse my suspicion. Usually when I encounter them, I find some product I have used and trusted has been changed. The change is not necessarily one I consider an improvement. Often the product itself has been cheapened in some way and is no longer as effective as I have known it to be. Frequently it has just been repackaged in a smaller quantity and given a heftier price. The only genuine improvement seems to be in the minds of the marketing “geniuses” who have found a way to improve their profit margin. New and improved? Hardly.

Many times advertisers present mirages. They hype what they want us to think they are selling. They exaggerate what the product will do. Or, instead of the product itself, they promote an image–the way we will look to others, or feel about ourselves if we drive a certain car, live in a certain neighborhood, or wear a particular brand. It is not just advertisers who are guilty of such. Social media enables people to present misleading pictures of who they want others to think they are. News reporters leave out certain details and emphasize others in order to lead us to think a story unfolded in a certain way. Often the truth is something quite different than what these various entities want us to believe.

Those who buy into a product or an idea, based on a false premise, only open themselves to disappointment. Believing a lie, however it comes to us, loosens our grip on reality. It may even cause us to promote our own facades, as we try to conform to what we think are the expectations of others. The glitzy images around us create unrealistic standards. Instead of pursuing the path we were designed to follow, we grasp at illusions.

In a world where “improvements” are often tenuous, the things that matter most never change. In a world where deception assaults us on multiple fronts, how satisfying it is to be able to depend on something real. We draw our stability from the Christ who never changes, the God who is always here and the Word that never passes away. The things we can see and hold in our hands are temporary. They are no  more permanent than a sand dune or a wave on the ocean. They cannot be depended upon. So we fix our hope on the things that are unseen for they are eternal.

God is faithful. He never changes. His version of new and improved is actually an improvement. When we yield our lives to His Lordship, He changes our dreams and desires to conform to what He planned for us all along. That’s when we find genuine fulfillment. We discover His ways are truly best.  Instead of trying to project an image to a fickle world, we will only want to please Him.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

 

Blessings,
Phyllis

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Image by Vicki Hamilton from Pixabay

Copyright 2023 Phyllis L. Farringer