It’s a new year. And yet, for
the most part, when you got up, nothing really changed or was “new”. Your daily
routine, your friends, your likes and dislikes, your possessions and even your
haircut will look the pretty much the same as it did one week ago. (Except your may need to get your haircut
touched up).
You will still live in the
same house in the same neighborhood with the same furniture and same appliances
and the same pets and unless you remodeled last night, the place looks pretty
much the same.
And you will go in the same
vehicle to the same place of employment to do the same job that you have done
the last time you were there.
You will go to the same
restaurants with the same friends or relatives and eat the same food that you
always eat and then watch the same types of entertainment or sporting events.
And then, at the end of the
day, you will crawl into the same bed that you woke up in and sleep on the same
side of the bed that you have all your life, set the alarm (or not) and get up
tomorrow and start it all over again.
But, what’s “NEW” in your
‘New Year’? If you go through this year like you did last year then welcome to
your future; you’ve already arrived!
Some you might be thinking;
“But I like my possessions, house, friends, job, and daily routine! In fact I
am completely satisfied and cannot even imagine a better life” And I would say;
“Good for you!” It’s great that you have found pleasure and fulfillment in what
you have and do; very few do.
But for the rest of
you who are reviewing this past year as you wait for the other shoe to drop as
you are thinking about what worse could happen to you in this New Year…Because
last year didn’t work for you and you spent much of December longing to put up
the new calendar…longing for new hope.
Perhaps you are the
one person that I am writing this for; you who much of this past year was
filled with hopelessness and despair.
Today, I want to give you
hope that comes with a challenge for you to ponder a life of new possibilities.
Are you ready for something NEW” in your ‘New Year’?
I believe that a
relationship with Jesus is the answer to how this New Year can be different
than last year; much better! And I believe that God’s Word, the Bible, gives
answers to this lack of hope.
It really is simple,
less complicated than you think. The Bible tells us:
“It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work
and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the
welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work
of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not
“doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for
you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things
right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right
between him and me!” Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like
this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what
a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the
same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who
calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.” (Romans9:9-13)
No, the Bible doesn’t
say that all of your problems will go way and you will suddenly live in utopia.
In fact Jesus Himself tells us that we will have problems;
“I’ve
told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured,
deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience
difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
But the difference is
that when you place your life into His hands and trust Him, then you will have
the reassurance that He will be with you all of the way THROUGH your trials;
even if we get tired of waiting for Him to fix it:
“Meanwhile,
the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping
us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our
praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching
groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant
condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that
every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
(Romans 8:26-28)
Not sure where to
start to get put something NEW in your New Year? You’ve
already seen last year; what have you got to lose but another year?
Copyright ©
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
No comments:
Post a Comment