And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 (NLT)
Reactions to the new year are varied. Some people get excited about making new resolutions while we know of others who are more blasé, “Been there, done that.” We all know of individuals who have carefully made resolutions, only to see them forgotten before the end of the month.
Sadly, I am among those who have made New Year’s resolutions and do not follow through with my commitment. I can only offer this advice: when we are made aware of something we must change, why should we wait until the beginning of a new year? If we are serious, we will not wait but begin immediately.
Perhaps our efforts to make resolutions and things new are generally doomed to failure because of our nature. We may succeed for a while, but with a few exceptions, we revert to old patterns and habits.
Instead, it is more expedient for us if we turn to the one who said, “Look, I am making everything new!” Everything may look the same to us on January 1 as it did on December 31. Our issues, our debts, relationship problems, and many other things do not simply go away because the year changed. Yet we can look forward with hope because our God has promised to make everything new. What God has promised for us is better than anything we can resolve to do in the coming year.
Look Back, Look Forward
Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:9–10 (NLT)
New things, including New Year’s, evoke a variety of reactions. For some people, the prospect of the unknown brings a sense of anticipation and optimism. Meanwhile, there is a sense of dread and fear for other people.
The best antidote for apprehension regarding those things before us is remembering God’s faithfulness in the past. Yes, Paul tells us to forget those things that are behind us but always remember what God has done for us.
We remember Joshua giving his farewell address to Israel. “Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!” Joshua 23:14 (NLT)
Our circumstances may not immediately change. The same challenges we faced at the end of the year are still with us in the new one. Moving forward requires courage, but it also involves perspective. Some of us must be reminded today that “Jesus never fails.” The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Lamentations 3:22 (NLT)
Remembering what God has done for you in the past will prepare you to face the future. It is not a sense of nostalgia, but reflecting allows faith to arise in us. The God who makes all things new will safely bring us through.
It Has Already Begun
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
It can be frustrating to live by faith and not by sight. At present, we may not see the evidence of new beginnings, but God has already begun. As long as we are looking with our natural eyes, it is likely that we will miss what God is doing in the spiritual realm.
What God has declared will happen will happen. The enemy’s strategy is to convince us that God is not true to his word. God is teaching us to persist. The enemy tells us to give up and that what God has promised us will never happen. But God has already begun to work. God builds roads where there were no roads and rivers in the middle of the desert.
A word for the new year is persistence. To never give up was the point of the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. Luke 18:1 (NLT). To never give up was also a theme of the apostle Paul:
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 2 Corinthians 4:16–17 (NLT)
New Year’s Expectations
This year, instead of resolutions, let us have expectations. God is moving to accomplish his purposes in and through us. Revival is coming. Jesus taught us to pray: May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (NLT)
“They say Aslan is on the move- perhaps has already landed.”-C. S. Lewis
We must not let the fears of “wars and rumors of wars,” or political or economic uncertainties dissuade us from keeping our eyes on Jesus. In David’s words: So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord! Psalm 31:24 (NLT). Jude gives us our benediction:
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen. Jude 24–25 (NLT)
Steve Ekeroth