New Life
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
“When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand-new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!”
Tomorrow starts a brand-new year. Some of us see 2023 as a blur, it went by so fast. Others see 2023 as a thing to forget, others see it as a time to remember. Whatever you think of 2023, it is in the books. It is written and we cannot change anything really, it is a recorded history now. We can choose to forgive and forget any wrongs done in 2023.
We can make some changes in the new year influenced by what we know happened in 2023, but what happened in 2023 cannot be changed. We can choose to hold on to the hurts, disappointments, and frustrations and let it affect 2024, or we can move on. We should look to God, trust God, and listen better to God in the new year. Whichever path that you choose, you set the precedence for 2024.
The passage this morning is an old familiar passage that says when we believed, we got rid of the old nature, and we accepted the change that God made in us. Out with the old, in with the new, so they say.
As we are changed to conform to the image of our Savior and walk as He walked and are living according to His guidelines, we become sanctified, made anew, born again, repurposed for God. To “sanctify” someone is to set them apart for a special use, to make them holy.
I think we need to sanctify this new year, set it apart for God, make it Holy for God, despite the ugliness that is going on in the world. 2024 will remain set apart for God in our minds, hearts, and spirits. We will do our best to keep it that way from January 1 to December 31.
Prayer:
Lord, we cannot change 2023. What we can do is consecrate 2024 for Your work, for Your glory. We will pray in earnest for those that we love, and we will pray in earnest for those who rebel against You. We will pray for our families, our friends and neighbors, the church as a whole. We will pray for our nation that we will become one nation under God again. We ask in faith believing, Amen!