In just a few short days we will enter into the brand-new year of 2022, when we will in a very limited way experience all things new. Many people will see the new year as an opportunity to forget the failures of the past year of 2021, and to wipe their slates clean. Of course, many people will be making New Year’s resolutions that unfortunately will often soon be broken. People will ultimately find that everything that is new is not necessarily better.
“Words from Above” tell us in the Bible that in the spiritual realm, it is really and truly a good thing for “all things to be made new”. The apostle Paul said it well in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new.” The best prospect of having success in the new year, or at any other point in time, is to become a new creation in Christ, which is only possible when we turn our lives over to Him.
In the beginning God formed, or created, man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that he became a living soul. Through his disobedience to God, the nature of man was ruined because of the power of sin. But God had a plan in place whereby man once again could be recreated in the image and likeness of God. This plan was put into place when God’s Son Jesus willingly died on the Cross to pay the penalty for all the sins of all the people of the world. The apostle Paul said it best in Galatians 2:20, where he wrote the important words, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Paul is making the important point that in order for all things to be new for us, we must put our faith in what Jesus did for us on the Cross. This means that we confess any and all sins that we have committed against Him and ask for His forgiveness. We then invite Him to live in our lives through His Holy Spirit, so we might have the guidance and the power we need to live the way he wants us to live. This is the one and only way we can really experience all thing being new for us in our lives.
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
