2008 is going to be great!

Friends,

Anyone who posts on a regular basis will probably be posting their New Year’s Resolutions this week. I would like to offer an alternative this year.

Most people start the New Year with a list of behavioral-based desires. These are usually simple activities in their life that they would like to quit, start or modify:

“I want to quit smoking.” “I need to start exercising.” “I want to eat healthier.”

Whether we stick with them or not, these resolutions don’t address some of our biggest problems. Many of us get discouraged because we feel that it is too late for other issues in our lives. For example, we are all sinners. Every single one of us has done something we shouldn’t have. We can never take back anything we say. We lose our virginity all but once. These are bigger issues that we don’t tend to talk about. However, some of these things eat away at the very core of us. They consume us and make us miserable. We can change simple behaviors at any time, but how do we live with the events that have already taken place? I’ll tell you how most of us deal with it. Guilt.

So, why am I writing this? Is it to convict you? To make you feel bad? No. I came across some Scripture the other day that helped me ring in the BEST New Year yet. Sure, I rang it in without a special someone or a New Year’s kiss, but it’s also when I realized what was in store for me this year.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV)

Wow! Go, Paul! Where can we even start to break this down?

First of all, verses 17-19 prove to us that God is a God of restoration and reconciliation. What a perfect lesson for the New Year. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done, God’s not keeping score. He loves us just the same. He can restore our souls and make us whole again.

God reconciled with us through His son, Jesus Christ. See, you get a little Christmas and Easter passage, too! The fundamental aspects of Christianity rolled up into one piece of Scripture.

Now, look what God has in store for us. We are His ambassadors! We are righteous! Doesn’t that make you feel special? It should. Each and every one of us have the opportunity to do His work, because we are Him!

The New Year. No matter what you resolve to do, make sure that you expect this year. 2008 is going to be great because God restores us, blesses us and has only good things in store for his ambassadors – his righteous children.

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)

Happy New Year!

James