New Year, New Hope, New Beginning
Tuesday January 3, 2017
We are just a few days into the new year. We look to this coming year with renewed hope. We long for something that is better than the year that has gone before. News reviews were filled with stories of disaster and suffering. We have our personal history of events from last year and for most of us it was a mixture of both success and struggle. What can we actually hope for as we advance into this new year?
God was in this New Year before we got to it. God has made Himself and His unfailing love available to us. Despite what has gone wrong in our past, God invites us today to prepare our hearts and lives to receive new life - new life in Christ. We’ve just celebrated the birth of Jesus whose one purpose was to come to earth to save sinners like us and to heal broken hearts like ours.
He (Jesus) died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. … Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. (2 Corinthians 5:15, 17-18 NLT)
In the same way that we needed forgiveness from God and a new way of life in loving relationship with Him, so do others who are struggling today – some with obvious problems of addiction and others who simply try to hide their pain. God wants us to reach out to anyone who still suffers, particularly our fellow addicts, with the good news of Jesus’ promise to save and heal everyone who asks Him. Others find hope as we share our story of the strength and healing we have found in surrendering our will and our lives over to the care of God. This can truly be a year of hope and new beginnings for us and for others as we reach out to support one another in our new life with God in recovery.
Prayer – Dear Lord Jesus, help us to share the “Good News” of Your unfailing love with others. In this year, our desire is to see many lives transformed by Your powerful saving grace. AMEN
©2017 Partners in Hope
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