Happy New Year 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!  What resolutions are we dreaming up this year that we’ll have broken hours or days down the line!  Statistics tell us that after just 9 days there is a 75% failure rate in keeping our resolutions.

If we think that's bad news, what do we do with the statistic that tells us that 100% of people fail to live according to God's righteous laws?  The result of that failure isn't just a few more pounds in weight on our bodies or a little more debt – it means death and eternal separation from God.

It's no wonder we love to celebrate Christmas -- the birth of Jesus Christ.  It is such a wonderful event because the Bible tells us: But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Galatians 4:4-5

Before the beginning of time, God planned for each of us to live in a productive, loving, creative connectedness to Him.  He planned for us to have the opportunity to daily walk and talk with Him.  His desire was for us to know the peace and blessing that would flow from our relationship with Him. 

We can enter into this new year with joy and hope because it is God who says that when we invite Him into our lives, we become new.  The old goes and the new comes.  God does it. 

You have now become a new person and are always learning more about Christ. You are being made more like Christ. He is the One Who made you.  

Colossians 3:10

When God makes us alive, He not only shows us how to live but gives us the desire and the power to do things His way. 

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 

Philippians 2:12b-13

Heavenly Father, Thank You for a new day, a new year, a new beginning.  Thank You for giving Your beloved son Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sin. We choose to surrender our will and life into Your care and trust that as we faithfully follow You, Your plans for our future will open up and this will be our best year yet.

You are the hope that lives inside us and the love that is always there to take us forward.  We pray that You will help us to live in this new year, one day at a time, as the person You created us to be.  Help us to become more like You in 2023.  Amen