Hoping To Live Well

Can we really hope to live well in this new year or are we doomed to just waiting for things to fall apart because of our character defects, which we have seen far too often in the past, and which we know lurk just under the surface in our minds and hearts … things like:

anger, impatience, unforgiveness, harshness, unforgiveness … and on and on.

Our hope should be based, not in our own self-effort to get it right, but rather in the God who chooses us and works powerfully in us to make us His holy people.  Listen to these encouraging words.

God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Don’t be angry with each other but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you. Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity. 

Colossians 3:12-14

God has chosen us and made us His holy people.  That’s the source of our hope for living well and growing in humility and mercy and patience. It’s what we are trusting when we come to God, admit that we do have these kinds of shortcomings and ask Him to remove them. 

And how do we get to that point where we are willing and able to make this surrender of our stubborn self well to God?  We need a spiritual awakening to the reality that we are loved by God.

When we know we are loved we can get through so many complex and difficult circumstances.  It’s the lack of feeling loved that has us experiencing insecurity and then reacting to try to protect ourselves from what we fear will happen.

Safe in God’s love means that we will be cared for as we go through whatever we have to go through.  Jesus never said we would have a trouble-free life but He told us that He had overcome those things and as He lives in us, we too become those who overcome. 

Our one simple choice is to live in God’s love ourselves today – doing whatever it takes to be conscious of that and have confidence in that – and out of that reservoir of safety and peace to then offer love to others. 

Loving God, thank You for not only inviting us to new life but for coming to be that life in us today and each day of this new year. 

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 every day.  Amen

Let’s stick with God’s simple agenda today – live in His love, receive all the comfort and healing we need from it for whatever we experience, and then offer love to everyone we meet.  If we do, we’ll definitely live well.