This is the time of year where we look forward to a new year and all the possibilities that newness brings. We make resolutions. We tell ourselves, “This year will be different!” With the continued stress of the pandemic looming over us, we need that hope that this year won't offer the same fears that plagued us last year.
As we all know, those resolutions fade as the struggles reality brings wear us down. We get discouraged and give up on following that diet or hitting the gym. We fall back on old habits and the newness turns back into sameness.
It doesn’t have to be that way. This isn’t a pitch for some gimmick, it’s a spiritual truth: We don’t need to start anew, we ARE NEW! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
The idea of being new can be scary. Giving up old ways of thinking and being can feel overwhelming but we’re not new because of something we do; we aren’t new by our own power, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 Our gift of freedom we’ve been given comes from the source of all power. So, face 2022 with all the strength and power from the Heavenly Father that loves us knowing: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
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