On the Eve of a New Year

Happy New Year is a wish most of us wish everyone for tomorrow. The time bound event when one-year rolls over to the start of a new year. But that is all it is. A celebration. A flip of a calendar page. A new year to reference.

For most of us, we want to make it a magical event. One where we forget the last year and hope something miraculous is going to happen at the stroke of midnight. That somehow this new year will find everyone happy, healthy, finding love and joy, maybe a little more stable financially.

Why do we hang on to the 365 days as an entity? Was last year a hard year or good year for you? Will the coming year be wonderful or difficult?

As with every year of your life, you may experience a lot of events – health issues, loss of a loved one, financial issues, career changes, fall in love, see your family grow, success and failure, mistakes, joys. That is what each new day can bring. We do not know what is around the corner.

Rather than celebrating the number for the next year, let us consider celebrating the hope of tomorrow as God has planned. Celebrating the past for the challenges and successes we came through by God’s grace. Celebrating today for what it is in the presence of God.

New Years Day happened a long time ago when Jesus died on the cross to wipe away my sin and make me pure in His eyes. I have a lot of past I may not be proud of, but I’ve been made new in Him. That is my New Year Day.

Each day is a New Year Day. Today is a new day to give my best to glorify God. That is all He asks of me. Today is making the most of it. Being thankful I have a new day. Today is a gift. Yesterday is gone, done, behind me. Yesterday is forgiven. I am in today. Not regretting yesterday or worrying about tomorrow.

But what will tomorrow bring? Throw that worry away. Now.

Tomorrow is a New Year that does not last 12 months. All my tomorrows are numbered, but not time bound. A life with Jesus at the helm is about an eternity of tomorrows, whether here or in heaven. A New Year Day is what I keep my eyes looking forward to when Jesus comes again to bring us home. Tomorrow, New Years Day, is just another day in the hope of our future. Keep your eyes fixed on God and do not give up hope.

Celebrate tomorrow and the next tomorrow and the next. Whether you are on the frontline of the reality of life or safely sequestered in your home. Your life is just that – yours. We do not know the “what or when” of our life’s journey, but what we do know is that we are not alone. God walks beside us every step of the way.

The New Year – the hope of a life with Christ.

Hallelujah and Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance that race marked out for us, fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy set before him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”