Getting Ready for a New Year

Well, it’s that time of year again…when we put away the Christmas ornaments, tinsel and lights and begin the task of getting ready for a New Year. We stop looking back at our past failures and mistakes and look forward to the prospects of new beginnings….we call them New Year’s Resolutions.

This year let’s try something simple….no resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking, get more exercise, eat better, eat less and on and on the list goes. This year let’s make one simple decision that will forever immeasurably impact our lives and the lives of those around us….let’s resolve, with the Lord’s help, to sin less.

You see, sin is all about us…it’s evident in the very center of the word …the letter “I”! Life becomes all about what I want, what I need, what I deserve, what I should have….I…I…I! It’s no wonder that God’s blessings can’t get through to us …they are held back by the dam of sin that separates us from His love and from our fellowship with a loving and caring Heavenly Father.

If you’re not sure of this, then take a look at Ephesians 2:1-10 and there you will read of God’s mercy toward us while we were yet sinners. But, God did not leave us in our hopeless state for scripture tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

It’s not about what you can do to make yourself better in the coming New Year…it’s about what God has already done through His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s about the mercy and grace of God. It’s about your desire to walk closer with Him on a daily basis and the only way to accomplish this is to sin less…..so we ask; how does one accomplish that?

The first thing to do is to replace the “I” in sin with the “O” and the word, sIn becomes the word, sOn ….and it’s always about the SON!!!! If you want to sin less, you need to be more like the Son of God in all you do. Is it easy, NO! Is it worth it, ABSOLUTELY!

God is calling each of us to begin the New Year resolved to sin less and to walk more like Jesus in our daily lives. He is waiting to bless each of us in ways we can not even imagine if we will just surrender to Him and allow Him to be the center of our focus. If we focus less on ourselves and more on Jesus, WE WILL SIN LESS AND OUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL BE EXALTED …..

And that’s the best way to start a New Year….walking with our Lord so that others may see Jesus in us.

Will it be easy to fore go the trap of New Year’s resolutions and the fallacy that we can somehow make ourselves better and more acceptable to God? I don’t know…but this I do know; God is calling us to be salt and light to a dark and desperate world. We can not expect to keep doing things the same way and get better results…we must change and that change comes from God and God alone.

So put down your paper and pencil and your anguish over making resolutions that are too easily broken…rather focus your energies on reading God’s word and asking for the power to become the man or woman God has called you to be in 2009.

He’s just waiting to open the floodgates and make 2009 a year like no other ……the choice is up to you!


May blessings abound,
WPQ