Happy New Year!
I know, it’s been a minute, and for that I apologize, but I do vow to be more consistent with content in the new year and beyond, not just to lock you guys in, but because time is of the essence and GOD has A LOT to say in these days. Let’s get it in!!!
New
2 Cor.5:17
Happy New Year!
I pray this correspondence finds you and yours blessed and excited about the opportunities that await with the turn of the calendar! The thing is, though, is to make sure that we don’t undervalue “new”, or limit its availability.
It’s always prudent to remember that man is limited in what he can do, what he can offer; GOD, Sovereign and Holy, is not. So while we often look for or wait until the start of a new year to want to “begin again”, with GOD, we don’t have to carry the weight of having to wait to start over.
One of the many benefits and promises, along with a primary purpose, of living Saved is “new”. Our text scripture emphasizes what’s intended by GOD and supposed to happen when we give our lives to HIM. In another part of scripture, salvation is referred to as a “new and living way” (Heb.10:20), which gives us to know that Salvation trumps the life that used to be because living in adherence to GOD’s WORD and ways causes everything in us and about us to be new. That in and of itself is important, if for no other reason, because it answers what should be our most important question about living for JESUS: what’s the point of living for the LORD if life is the same living without HIM? It’s not. Not even close. Never intended to be (John.10:10).
One of the most amazing things we know about it the grace of GOD is that, after the initial reboot once we’ve accepted the Plan of Salvation (Rom.10:9 & 10), that same grace that allows us to get Saved is the same grace that allows us to stay Saved, by giving us fresh starts…over and over, again. When I say “yes” to JESUS? New. When I repent for something I’ve done even after being Saved? New. When I learn something I didn’t know before in my walk with the LORD? New. The process of growing in CHRIST JESUS continually causes us to be renewed, changes things about us, changing us. GOD doesn’t limit HIS people to one do-over per year, and because GOD operates in times and seasons as opposed to calendars and clocks, that should be good news for those looking for a love that far outweighs whether or not we’re deserving recipients. Need proof? Who else do you know that would send their son to die for something he didn’t do, on behalf of someone else, on the belief that they would one day choose to give their life to the one who gave it to them. That’s LOVE.
So as we begin the yearly moratorium on resolutions, vows, and the like, make the most of each “new” GOD gives you: day, breath, mercy, chance, season. And remember with HIM, it doesn’t simply begin or end with a ball drop on the 31st of December.
Love you, Guys…
KD