To Start Anew

The New Year always gives the feeling of a new beginning, doesn't it? This brings the tradition of resolutions, a chance to accomplish this year what we failed to do last.

A couple of interesting truths spring to mind as I think on the year ahead.

One, I'm still the same. The person that I was at the end of 2010 is the person entering into 2011. I have the same strengths, same weaknesses. If I fell for gluttony last year, I won't suddenly be cured this year. If I reacted impatiently when I was tired or stressed last year, I may repeat it again when I'm weary this year. I will not have boundless energy; I will still grow tired. I will not always want to do the good I know I should. I'm still me. You're still you.

What does this mean? When I'm tempted, should I throw up my hands and give in? Of course not. 

Understanding where you are weak can enable you to strategically plan for success instead of leading yourself down a path of temptation. More importantly, however, this truth is intricately tied with the second.

The second truth is God is still the same. Where the knowledge of our sameness may make us feel vulnerable, and we are, the acknowledgment of God being the same is our comfort. 

Jesus, the Messiah, is the same yesterday and today-and forever! ~Hebrews 13:8

Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is the same God who came in flesh as our Messiah, Saviour, Deliverer, Prince of Peace. He is the same God who loved us enough to pay the penalty for our sins. He is the same God who rose from death and lives inside of all who call upon Him in faith.

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ~Colossians 1:27

G. Campbell Morgan, an early Twentieth-Century preacher from Westminster, described "hope" like this:

It does not mean foundationless expectation, but rather confidence in something yet to be, with an accompanying endeavor to reach it.

He goes on to give us a glimpse of that hope—future and present:

Christ in you is the one unanswerable evidence of the ultimate victory. He is always singing the song of the future. He is also always energizing the effort of the present. 

If Jesus lives in me, in you, we not only have hope of future happiness, but the expectation of all that we need today. Not on our own do we succeed, but 

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to Yahweh our God, till He shows us His mercy . ~Psalm 123:2

Listen to this by Pastor Morgan:

He [God] started the music, and all the world hears it, and yet it never becomes perfectly articulate, perfectly harmonious, until He sings it in the individual life.

If you know Him, you know this. All your friends crave something unreachable. You crave it. I crave it. We've been wanting from the moment of conception. Only when He sings in our hearts do we recognize the voice of Him for whom we long. 

Yes, we often lose sight of Him. We think it's this or that, him or her, that we want. We don't realize the agony of soul we face each time we try to fill our desire with something else. Empty!

This year we can have hope, a hope that energizes us to do the right we long to do—now. As Morgan says,

Christ is in me as hope; not merely in the sense of expectation, but in the sense of endeavor, Christ energizes the present . . . . I am renegade if I sit still and listen to His singing and do not co-operate in His efforts.

This year, all of us will be part of history-making. WE create the 2011 of which future generations will study.

Each life is given at just the right time to do & to be something special & irreplaceable . . . . You and I are lovingly shaped to be the building blocks from which history is created. ~Marion Stroud

You and I were made for today. We have no promise of tomorrow and no hope in yesterday. Today we can have hope in us, through Jesus, and can offer hope to those around us. 

You may have failed yesterday, but today you have Jesus. Today we can begin a history of hope for the next generation.

Christ IN you, the hope of glory!

Happy New Year!

Already a new year has begun. For some of us, the start of another year wipes the slate clean, gives a chance to reinvent one's dreams, start over, get it right. For others of us, we've lost a person, a dream, a focus in 2009, and the thought of another year appears bleak and empty.

For those filled with excitment, channel that energy into a focus on God. Make Him the centre of your goals. If you don't, you may lose what you'd hoped for and your world will crash around you. If Yahweh is the centre of your dreams, He will pour His dreams into your heart, and their fulfillment will be greater than anything you could have imagined.

I will praise Yahweh, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set Yahweh always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:7-8)

Show me Your ways, O Yahweh, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Saviour, and my hope is in You all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)

For those facing the year with dread, God in His providence has brought you here. Cling to the hope that God is good all the time, even when the circumstances seem cruel and heart-wrenching.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. Wait for Yahweh; be strong and take heart and wait for Yahweh. (Psalm 27:13-14)

May we head into the year with our hearts and eyes set on seeking Yahweh's face. This earth is just the prologue. The best is yet to come!

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13b-14)