We celebrate the New Year with hope. The New Year gives us hope because it offers new possibilities and a chance to start fresh. New Year’s resolutions express our determination to do it better this time and not make the same mistakes.
We are attracted to the new. Advertisers know it. They stamp “New and Improved!” on their products because they know it is sure to grab our attention. Kittens, puppies, newborn babies, and flowers in the springtime remind us of new life, new beginnings, and hope for the future.
What is it that draws us toward the new? And why does “new” speak to us of hope? I believe it is because of a deep inner knowledge that we are fallen, broken, and need a Savior. We need Someone to take what is broken inside us and make it new again!
Good news! We have a God of new beginnings! He makes all things new!
In the world, we have false hope. Our New Year’s resolutions fail because we depend on ourselves and our circumstances to generate something new. We make some progress, but the old catches up with us. Promises of new products and new ideas turn out to be little different from the old, repacked, but disappointing. (Eccl. 1:9)
But in Jesus Christ we are made new! Truly new, not merely repackaged. (2 Cor. 5:17)
When God created the world, He created ex nihilo–out of nothing. He didn’t take something that was and give it a facelift, He created something NEW! But He didn’t stop there, He is still a God of new beginnings. (Lam. 3:21-23) Will you allow God to do something NEW in your life this year?
Hear the words of the LORD,
Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it? (Isaiah 42:18-19a)
Pastor Cindy
