Into the New

As I was reflecting on the past year, I thought of the unchanging character of God. Every year, He remains the same. He does not change; He requires the same level of commitment as He had the first time He saved us and made us His own. We on the other hand are ever changing and at times, unbeknownst to us. Each year, we come up with resolutions and new habits we would like to put in place. I am not sure what it is with the “new” that makes us so eager to embrace it with something never done before. It is as though, with each new year, we are given the opportunity to start afresh, to do better, to win and not fail, to try again, etc. This, to me is the epitome of the grace of God. The Bible tells us that God’s steadfast love never ceases and that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Similarly, with a new year, we get to have a clean slate filled with God’s compassions. A slate where God opens the door for us to return to Him and to lean on Him rather than on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). As we close this year and step into the new, my goal today is to remind you that your greatest objective is to “seek the LORD and His might, seek His face always” (Psalm 105:4). 

I have been reading the book of Ezekiel and what I find fascinating is the fact that there are no new concepts. True, the book is filled with mindboggling visions and imageries of the spiritual world but at its core, there is no new message in the book. The LORD in His kindness is still calling His people to return to Him, to repent of their sins and to choose life. The LORD, through His prophet Ezekiel warned His people of the upcoming impending judgement against them and this He does so that they will know that He is God (Ezekiel 20:20). Throughout the Bible we see the story of God as the loving Father who calls His unruly and unrepentant children back to their senses and to Himself. He goes as far as to send His one and only son to redeem sinners from their sins and escape the judgement that their sin deserves. This great God had decided to stoop so low, to become poor for our sake, to endure pain and suffering so that we would have life and an abundant one at that (John 10:10). During the time of Ezekiel, the LORD reminded His people of the life-giving power of His commandments, saying that if a person obeys His commandments, he shall live (Ezekiel 20:13). These commandments were created for our good to keep us from the way of evil. However, our sinful nature makes us prone to the desires of the flesh. Just like the people of Israel fell into the sin of idolatry – making other things their god – which led to many other debaucheries and iniquities, we too, when we give into our fleshly desires, become slaves to our sins and enemies of the living God. But God in His lovingkindness is extending His arms to us so that we will not perish but will instead have eternal life (John 3:16-17). He is the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who has shown to be faithful, the One who is holy and is before all things and above all things. This is the same jealous God who has no equal and who demands our full allegiance. The same God who does not share and cannot share His glory with anyone that is why he cannot tolerate our sinful behaviours, he cannot condone our sinful actions and he certainly is not pleased with His children playing with fire or willingly giving their lives away for the schemes of the devil. He knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows we have to live a life of obedience to Him if we want to thrive in this life and in the next because life is in Him. Our rightful response to this great God is humility. 

I do not know what you have planned for the new year, whether you anticipate it or not or are the type of person that does not care much about it. However, I would like to challenge you to make following Jesus the greatest goal you have for this year. This Jesus is still worth everything. Indeed, it is with his very life he paid the price that our sins deserved. We owe Him our full allegiance. There is nothing new the LORD is asking of us this year therefore, let us remain steadfast in Him, continuing in our obedient path, seeking His ways in all that we do. Let us engage in practical activities such as scripture memorization, meditation and prayer that will draw us closer and closer to our heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally. Whatever the new year brings, if you trust the LORD Jesus Christ, you have nothing to fear because victory is already yours. Therefore, be of good courage and know that Jesus has overcome the world so that we would not have to (John 16:33). Amen.