New Year’s Day is a great day to get a fresh start on life.
All over the world countless people see the dawn of the New Year as the obvious launching point for a fresh ‘go’ at living.
Promises are pledged, goals are set, and New Year’s resolutions are made. All in the hope of leaving the old ways behind or writing a new chapter in the book of life.
I’m as tempted as anyone to wax enthusiastic at the prospects of a new beginning. Over the years I’ve joined the ranks of the courageous who have woken up on January 1st ready to embark on a new exercise routine, leave behind some controlling habit, rebuild some relationship or double down on efforts to pursue a forgotten dream.
If that’s you, I’m a big fan!
But I also must admit that with each passing year I increasingly question our collective reasoning in pinning all our hopes for change on one particular day of the year, even if that day is New Year’s Day. Why should January 1st have any more ability, than say, June 21st to endow us with previously unfound strength for change? It’s not as though the stars align in such a way as to add the one missing element that every other day of the year lacks in making our hopes and dreams a reality.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely, 100%, support anyones desire for a new start on New Year’s Day. But if you’re reading this article, you’ve probably lived life long enough to ask the same questions I have. You’ve likely considered the obvious, but often unspoken, possibility that New Year’s Day does not possess, in and of itself, the power to bring about the changes we so long for. In fact, by the time you read this January edition of Pals magazine, it’s quite possible you’re already struggling to maintain the lofty ambitions you set out with for the New Year.
But there’s good news! That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, one of the greatest discoveries we may make is that the pasts we long to leave behind, the people we hope to become and the dreams we aspire to lay hold of, have nothing to do with New Year’s Day at all, but something much more profound and powerful.
But God invites us those of us who want real power for real change in real life to look to Him in faith.
Again, the Bible makes this glorious offer to us, “…if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) New life, transforming life, isn’t obtained through dogged determination to become better people, but through humble dependency on the Spirit of God to change us from the inside out.
It is for the purpose of giving new life that Jesus came into the world; it is for the reality of a new beginning that He gave His life for our sins on the cross. It is for real power that He rose from the dead and has sent the gift of the Holy Spirit, who alone can enable us to live the victorious life God’s called us to. The only condition for receiving these things is faith.
The Bible states, “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Perhaps the best part about these promises is that they are available to anyone at any time. That means that you can start a new life today, right now, if you’re willing to surrender your life to God and allow the Holy Spirit to jump start your heart. You don’t have to wait till next year, or next week or next time. “Today is the day of Salvation” the Bible says. In the quietness of your heart you can turn from your sins and confess your faith in Jesus’ Christ. You can pray for God’s grace and forgiveness; that He would grant you the hope of eternal life. You can surrender to Him and experience the power of the Holy Spirit now; power to leave the old life behind, to experience enduring joy and peace and to live the life God intended for you to live.
By Pastor Tim Mattox,
Calvary Chapel Paphos
www.calvarycyprus.com
