New Year Change

The new year is 49 minutes old. My Christmas tree is dry and drooping but still beautiful. None of the new presents have permanent homes tucked away in closets and drawers. Cookie tins are emptied of their confections, most washed and piled in the drying rack. Things don’t feel new; in fact, they feel halfway finished. They feel like piled-up chores. Laundry continues; meals must be made and dishes washed; life goes on. I want it to feel like a fresh start, like a new beginning, but it feels like I’m going to sleep in tomorrow. Anyone else, or is it just me? 

I understand the concept of celebrating a brand-new year but have always thought it was a strange way to celebrate. It is the time of year when everything is dead and cold; new life comes in the spring. The time of night when it’s dark, and our bodies are sleepy. A new day begins at dawn. Declaring resolutions of health while eating and drinking to excess. Good intentions fizzle quickly. Is change possible?

It is tempting to attempt to muster up the strength to bring about the change we want to see, but the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit brings about change. The first and most important catalyst to change is Salvation in Christ.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-20, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-20 ESV

He creates us anew! Mending the rift between Himself and us, we become a new person. 

If you haven’t been made new yet, I echo Paul’s words and implore you to be reconciled to God! 

Read verse 15 again; “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” 2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV

If you haven’t acknowledged Jesus as the king of your life yet, you can do that now. A fresh start for a fresh year. He died for all. We have all betrayed him, messed up, sinned. We all deserve the death he took in our place. You can be made new for the new year.  

What about those of us that feel like a work unfinished? We have been made new and feel the wear and tear of life on this broken earth.  I would encourage you to read all of Phil 3, but let’s focus on Paul’s declaration and encouragement in verses 12-16;

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” Philippians 3:12-16 ESV

We press forward, continuing in the work we were given in Christ Jesus. Because of what he has done for us, we continue in the process of sanctification, becoming more like Christ each day. 

If you are geared up and ready for a new year with a new resolution or if you are still feeling like hibernating and waiting for spring to grow new life, spiritually, we all must look to the Holy Spirit for change and development. We cannot muster up enough goodness inside us to change ourselves, Scripture is clear the work has already been done through Christ. It’s offered for you and me. Move forward in him through the joys and challenges that this new year will bring. 

The year is just beginning, but maybe you’re in the thick of it. Maybe it’s the mundane of life, or maybe it’s a crisis that has fried your nervous system. He knows he is with you; he will carry you through! Press on! 

The Good Portion Journaling questions:

Re-read 2 Corinthians 5:14-20. What is the ministry of reconciliation? 

What does it mean to be an ambassador for Christ? 

How will you be His ambassador this year? 

Re-read Philippians 3:12-16

What does the phrase, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” mean? How do people misinterpret this? WHO is “the prize”? 

How will you press on toward Christ this year? 

Dig deeper:

Read Isaiah 43

Who is he talking to, and who is he talking about? 

What verses bring you comfort in this passage? 

Focus on verses 18-19: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV

What was the new thing he was doing? 

Who made a way for us in the wilderness? 

Are you in the wilderness now? How is Christ your "way"?

What other verses in Isaiah 43 express God’s presence with us in the tough seasons of life? Do a search to find more throughout the scripture. List them out and find who they are talking to and about. Does it apply to you? Find one to write on your mirror. 

However long into the New Year you are, know that He is working in you. Continue to walk with Him in the winter and the spring.