A New Thing
Letting Go of the Next to Receive the New
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
The NEXT is what we plan. The NEW is about Who is here.
We often chase the next thing: the next project, the next title, the next opportunity. Ambition can even hide beneath spiritual language, but it still centers on self. God isn’t asking us to chase the next—He invites us into His new.
The new doesn’t flow from our effort but from His presence.
A Sound They’d Never Heard
At Pentecost, the disciples weren’t mapping out their next steps. They were waiting. Then it came: a sound like wind, tongues of fire, and words no one had ever spoken (Acts 2). Isaiah foresaw it: “
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19).
The new wasn’t man-made. It wasn’t the product of human ambition or careful planning. It was heaven breaking in—God revealing Himself in a way the world had never known.
Next vs. New: Ambition vs. Destiny
The next is fueled by ambition; the new is born from destiny.
Ambition pushes: “Make it happen.” Destiny whispers: “Trust Me—I will bring it forth.” One drains us, the other draws us into God’s timing.
The next is fragile because it depends on us; the new is secure because it depends on Him.
Jesus said, “New wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:38). God doesn’t just give us more to do—He makes us new vessels, ready to carry His Spirit into a new season.
Ambition feeds on striving, comparison, and insecurity. Destiny flows from surrender, patience, and trust.
Ambition may even look spiritual, but if it rests on self, it won’t last. Destiny endures—because it rests on God’s call, His timing, and His Spirit.
When we chase the next thing, even religious ones, we risk missing the true new thing God is birthing. But when we yield ambition to destiny, we enter His new—secure, Spirit-filled, and enduring.
Hope in the New
At Pentecost, God didn’t simply give the disciples a new plan—He gave them His Spirit. That same Spirit is still at work today, bringing God’s new into our lives. Not for novelty’s sake. Not for a spiritual rush. But to reveal Christ, transform lives, and draw the world to Himself.
The question is: will we keep chasing the next, or will we wait for the new?
Reflection