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Don't Cling to What Was - Friday, 04/10/2026

Scripture: John 20:17; Isaiah 43:18–19; 2 Corinthians 5:17

After Mary recognizes Jesus in the garden, his first words to her are surprising: 'Don't hold on to me.' Don't cling. It's an unexpected thing to say in a reunion. But Jesus isn't pushing her away — he's opening a door. What he's saying, in essence, is: the relationship we had before was real and good, but what's coming is bigger. You can't receive what's new if you're holding on to what was.

That's a word that lands in a lot of places in ordinary life. We cling to old versions of relationships that have changed. We cling to an identity that no longer fits — the person we used to be, the role we used to play, the story we used to tell about ourselves. We cling to the way things were in a church, a neighborhood, a family. Clinging isn't always bad; sometimes it's love. But sometimes it keeps us from receiving what God is actually doing right in front of us.

Isaiah 43:18–19 puts it plainly: 'Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.' That's not a command to forget the good things that shaped us. It's an invitation to stay awake to what God is doing now, not just what God did then. The danger of living entirely in what was is that we miss the new thing happening in the present.

In Monroe, like anywhere, this can look like holding so tightly to the way things used to be — in our families, our community, our church — that we can't open our hands to receive what's possible now. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that in Christ, the old has gone and the new has come. That's not a one-time event at conversion. It's an ongoing reality. Newness is always available. The question is whether we're willing to let go long enough to receive it.

What are you clinging to right now that might need to be released? It might be a grudge, a regret, an old story about who you are, or an old picture of what your life was supposed to look like by now. Jesus says: don't hold on to what was. Something new is possible.

Reflection Question:  Is there something from your past — a loss, a regret, an old identity, a way things used to be — that you're holding so tightly it's hard to imagine anything new?

Action Step:  Write down one thing you've been clinging to. Then write this sentence next to it: 'Something new is possible.' You don't have to feel it yet. Just let the words be there.

Prayer:  God, I hold on tighter than I should sometimes. Help me open my hands — to release what was, and receive what you're making new. Amen.