Recycling is one of the ‘buzz words’ of the 21st century, and quite right too! We had become too much of a ‘throwaway’ society, in both material and spiritual terms. Anything from plastic packaging, paper, any kind of containers and household ‘white’ goods, went into the skip. In many cases, our own emotional and spiritual lives were included in this process of dumping.

However, we can learn from the myriad of television programmes which offer advice on transforming our homes and gardens, with anything from redecoration with a new colour-scheme to a complete rebuild, that we can recycle our inner life too.

So, how do we go about this spiritual makeover? First, don’t think it will all be easy, as if by some magic trick. The apostle Paul met plenty of opposition from pagans; that is, people who had no belief in God. When he was preaching in Asia Minor (now modern Turkey) he reminded his hearers that they must go through plenty of hard times in becoming true believers. (Acts 14:22) A number of writers of the books of the New Testament believe that a new way of life is possible. The apostle Peter, in his letter to early Christian believers, writes that we can find new life in God. He tells his readers to love one another, “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God”. (K.J.B) We return to Paul, himself a convert in adult life, who keeps our feet on the ground in reminding us of human weakness as he writes to the people of Corinth in Greece, “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels (ourselves) that the Excellency of this power may be of God, and not of us.

The New Testament comes to an end in a celebration of belief expressed by the apostle John when he had been exiled by the Roman government to the Greek island of Patmos about the year 95AD. He writes of his great vision, including a picture of God on His heavenly throne. “And He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’.” Indeed a great vision for any time or place and maybe never more needed for our world.