NEW BEGINNINGS

As the New Year begins and the old year passes, there probably are things you look back on and wish you would have done differently. Maybe you could have offered to help a neighbor, or you could have bought lunch for the homeless man on the corner, or maybe you wished you had been more encouraging. Maybe you wished you would have been the first to apologize or waited to make a major life decision. Maybe you wanted to be more active or take better care of your health.

Perhaps you feel as if you have failed and you don’t think you can start over or have a new beginning. Each day God gives us new mercies. As Lamentations 3:22-24 says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’” He reminds us that it is never too late to start following Him or to begin again. Every day He gives us a fresh start in life.

A new year allows us the ability to re-evaluate what our priorities are as well as begin something new. New beginnings instill within us a hope and an expectation for what is to come. Don’t get stuck on where you were or what has happened in the past. Instead, press into Jesus and look to Him as the author of your faith. He is the one who cleanses you from your sin and makes you whole again.

God is for you! In this New Year, ask the Lord to give you a fresh start and to grow you in your faith over this next year. Allow God to change and transform your life this year. Everyone in Christ is a new creation because He makes all things new.