New Year, New Start

Happy New Year Everyone! 

 

    We've said our 'goodbyes' to 2013 and it's time to embark on the adventure that will be 2014. While looking over Facebook statuses on New Year's Day, I noticed certain hashtags that seemed to be trending. Hashtags like; #happynewyear #2014 #goodbye2013 #newyearnewstart #freshstart #resolution #thisyearwillbebetter #thepastisthepast #movingon #newyear. 

     These popular hashtags seemed to allude to a hard year, a 2013 that maybe wasn't what they expected. And these hashtags also reveal a hope for a new start, a new and better year in 2014. 

     But friends, we don't have to wait for a new year to leave the old behind and start fresh again in Christ. The Lord's mercies are new every morning!

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

-Lamentations 3:22-24

      Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died on that cross and rose again 2000 years ago. He concurred sin and death so that we can now live in the freedom that He gives everyday! We don't have to wait for a new year, to make new resolutions and try harder to be a better person, or have a more fulfilling life. The only true fulfillment we have is in Christ, and we could never be a good enough person to handle our sin problem.   Jesus, in His love, already handled that for us.

So this New Year, as we make (or don't make) our New Year's Resolutions lets keep a few things in mind...

  

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” -Lamentations 3:40

Lets remember that it is only in Christ that we truly get a #freshstart

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” -Ephesians 4:22-24

Lets remember that we may have plans or resolutions for the new year, but it is God's plans that succeed.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." -Proverbs 19:21

     Maybe 2013 was an amazing year for you, maybe it was a difficult year. Regardless of how you viewed your 2013 always remember that we serve an amazing God who loves us deeply, blesses us lavishly, and has a plan for each of your lives.  Lets draw nearer to our Heavenly Father this year, realizing that He is all we need. 

 

I encourage you to read Lamentations 3:19-33 today. Happy New Year!!

“Let all discipline, striving, and resolving be in response--and in REJOICING over-- what you have already accomplished in us, not what we think we must accomplish for you.” -Ruth Simons