New Beginning

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So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NET)

Celebrating a new year represents more than just a day on the calendar, it marks a new beginning. The word new is a fairly easy concept to grasp. The dictionary defines new as “of recent origin; having existed only a short time; lately made, produced, or grown.”

So, how can one 24-hour period on January 1st make such a difference? One day it is the old year, the next the beginning of something new. Yet at the turn of the calendar page, we feel the excitement, hope, freshness, and a restored outlook as 2022 begins.

We have finally finished the annual ritual of boxing up all the Christmas decorations, moving them to the storeroom, and cleaning the house. Now we know Christmas will come in a few months, so why not just leave all the Christmas decorations up in the house? It would save a lot of time and be so much more efficient come November. Wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy Christmas all year long? Regardless of the fact, the neighbors would talk about us, keeping the house decorated for Christmas would keep us from ever enjoying the excitement of new holidays. The beautiful decorations that make Christmas special would look out of place at Easter, the 4th of July, or Thanksgiving. The old must give way to allow the new to come into our home.

Holding onto the old is big business in the United States. There is an estimated 49,233 self-storage units or enough space for every American to stand under the total canopy of self-storage roofing at the same time. This doesn’t include garage, attic, and closet storage space where we store stuff. The problem with collecting things is that you eventually run out of storage space.

“There, where clinging to things ends, is where God begins to be. If a cask is to contain wine, you must first pour out the water. The cask must be bare and empty. Therefore, if you wish to receive divine joy and God, first pour out your clinging to things. Everything that is to receive must and ought to be empty.”

These words were written centuries ago by German theologian Meister Eckhart. However, centuries before Eckhart, Jesus responded to the accusation that he wasn’t following the regulations of fasting by saying “no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9: 6-17)

Jesus didn’t have a problem with fasting or keeping religious traditions. However, He did have a problem if the old kept someone in ritualistic bondage. Jesus had a problem if the old kept someone from truly enjoying their life with God.  Jesus knew the old wineskin couldn’t hold both old and new. “You must first pour out the water. The cask must be bare and empty.”

Unfortunately, too many people try to horde the old and miss the new. Holding onto the old can keep us from the blessings that God would like to give us. Billy Graham told the story about a little child that was playing with a very valuable vase. “He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best to get it out, to no avail. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull.” The little fellow said, “O no, dad, I couldn’t put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my dime.”

Could this be the year when you need to open your hand and let go of the dime in your hand to receive something far more valuable from God?

Could this be the year when you pour out the old to finally enjoy the new that God is giving you?

As children bring their broken toys

With tears for us to mend

I brought my broken dreams to God

Because He is my friend.

But then, instead of leaving Him

In peace to work alone

I hung around and tried to help

With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,

How can you be so slow?

My child, He said, what could I do…

You never did let go.

(Broken Dream by Lauretta P. Burns)

 

The new is only valuable when we are ready to open our lives to receive it.

Lord thank you for the gift of new. Let us receive it with anticipation of all you will do in us this day. Amen

God is great,

Is the New Year worth celebrating?

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The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” Lamentations 3:19-24 NLT

2022 – What will the year bring? We celebrate yet we have no idea if the year will be worth celebrating. Will it be a year of loss, disappointment, or challenges? Will it be a year of excitement, adventure, and new successes? We can’t see ahead but thankfully God can. As followers of Christ, we have a God who we place our confidence in and who will walk with us through the unknown until they are known.

Amid life’s tragedies and chaotic turmoil, the presence of God may not be as obvious, yet we know his presence is more than we could ever imagine. You may not think of these verses out of Lamentations as being new year verses but they can remind us of the hope and assurance that God’s love is new every morning as well as year.

Jeremiah captured his pain and lament in the book of Lamentations. Though he was persecuted, thrown into a cistern, dragged away as a captive, and jailed, as he cried out to God amid his situation, he came back to the hope that is found only in God.

Scripture is filled with hope to face the unknown and uncertainty of a new year. Scripture gives us stories of those who rested in the shelter of God. As we begin this new year, these stories and countless others can help us to rest in the shelter of God, regardless of the event.

Noah was ridiculed and mocked as he and his sons built an ark in the middle of the desert. Yet as the rains began, Noah experienced the salvation of God when he is told to “Go into the ark, you and your whole family…” (Gen 7:1)

Joseph lived in slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned yet he experienced the restoration of God and was able to say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Gen 50:20)

Moses was hidden and rescued as a baby, forced into exile, faced down the most powerful ruler in the land, and endured the wilderness for forty years. Moses knew the dark times of life but he experienced the intimacy of God, “… whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10)

David, belittled by his brothers, his life threatened, lived in caves and was forced to flee his kingdom, but he experienced oneness with God. “…. a man after my own heart;” (Acts 13:22)

Paul was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, cold, accused falsely, yet he experienced worship of God and was able to say “…so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21)

Is the new year worth celebrating? Without a doubt! Only because we celebrate based upon the assurance of God’s promise. Therefore, we can say with confidence:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

We may not know what will fill our calendar pages but we do know “we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.”

Lord, I commit 2022 to you. I ask you to bring encouragement to those who experience tragedy, comfort to those who experience loss, peace to those who will be troubled, hope to all, assurance that you care for them, and gratefulness daily for what you provide. Amen.

Happy New Year and remember,

God is great,