The year was 1940. On January 21 of that year I made commitment to Jesus Christ and to his will for my life plan. That year I graduated from high school, and in the fall entered a college to begin formal education for a life in Christian ministry. In the years that followed I continued, off and on, studies in seminary and university until I earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at a major state university. However, I learned during the decades that the most important truths to know and apply would not be accented in my formal education, but in attention given to practical applications of learnings in the context of life. One of the factors relates to the need for personal renewal. Renewal and refreshing purpose applies to nearly everything of worth in our lives.
Before World War II, a war waged from late 1941 through late 1945 for Americans, evangelical churches commonly held Revival, Evangelistic or Mission Meetings annually. Even the more formal and liturgical churches would often sponsor series to guide their people into renewal of long held beliefs and practices that were not to be lost in a changing, sometimes forgetful, world. Some revival movements were so influential that their stories have made their way into secular history books. Out of revivals there emerged such issues as anti-slavery, women’s rights, temperance movements, freedom laws, improved social conditions, and the like, as well as personal spiritual integration for persons wishing to begin or improve their Christian lives.
The Bible does not use the word revival as often as it uses synonymous words beginning with the letters RE to accomplish what the concepts of revival are meant to accomplish. Not only does the Bible make this principle of renewal important, but secular history does as well. The renewal of ancient learning, beginning about 1250 in Europe, became known as the Renaissance. The drive to end the decline of cities became known as Urban Renewal. The recovery of natural sites, and important man-made ones as well, became known for their Restorations. Predominantly, the RE words suggest positive and beneficial results. Scripture uses the word new in two ways:
1) that which is brand new; and, 2) that which was once new is made new again. This last is translated by moderns as renewal, revival, restoration, renaissance, and other RE word terms.
King David, who had sinned grievously, was confronted with his wrongdoing. His response was not self-defense, nor resort to privilege, but to sorrow, to repentance, and to plea to be restored to what he had known earlier. Renewal has the sense of returning to a former flourishing condition. Renewal is needed in all of life from washing hands to renew their cleanliness; to renewal of the homes in which we live; to renewal of marriages that may have detoured; and, to improvement in human commitments. Most important is to incorporate a plan to have regular renewal of the best we have in spiritual experience – renewal that prepares the way for growth to enliven life situations we knew before, or presently enjoy. My life has been partly dedicated to assisting persons to find recovery. Without it none of us can become the persons we were meant to become. Try it. You’ll like it. And, make sure that it is more than New Year’s Resolutions. Marking renewal purposes in a special and deliberate way provides markings to seal the ideals. On our fortieth wedding anniversary, the faculty of our college held a special event for us, inviting us to renew our vows, with my colleagues present. It added virtue to an already good thing. My wife and I were solemnized by the event, and were made better for it. By renewal we move with greater commitment toward the improvement of our devoted objectives. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020