A New Year Brings Hope

Hoping for a better year in 2016? Maybe you have been looking in the wrong places for your happiness.

As I watch the enthusiasm in Times Square and around the world, I ask myself why.  Why do people gather in parties to see out the old and to bring in the new. Why do we cheer, toast, and kiss?  I have come to the conclusion that we get so excited is because a new year brings hope.  We can wipe the slate clean and get a fresh start on those things we try to do and fail year after year such as quitting smoking, losing weight, or spending so nuch time playing video gaves or watching TV. Whatever your personal desire to improve may be, the New Year guarantees a New Start or a “Do Over” that lifts our spirits. People resolve to do better in an area of their lives. a few make it, but more often than not those resolutions quickly falter. The hope is short lived. The guilt returns and may be even greater now that you are facing the same old failure with which to deal. The new start of 2016 quickly dissolves into the morass of 2015. The New Year celebration becomes nothing more than a self-medicated means of forgetting the mental and emotional pain of the emptiness for a little while. THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we are in Christ we have become a new creation for the old person we used to be has passed away! Will there be failures ahead? Most definitely. THE DIFFERENCE IS God put the shame, blame, and pain of Jesus who died on the cross in our place and was raised again to new life. All who give their lives to Him and believe that he died for their failures will be reconciled to God. That means every morning is like the beginning of a New Year. There is fresh hope each day because there is forgiveness for each failure.
Yes, there will be repentance, confession, and sanctification as we learn to live for Him and not ourselves. But remember, this leads to the highest joy, delight, pleasure, happiness, and hope known to the human race. This can only come from a holy God because holiness is the highest beauty and wholeness known anywhere in our universe. It is my blessing for all of you in 2016 that may you discover for yourself this lasting hope in God, alone, who can always be trusted because he is holy.
Donna