THE VERSE
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”~Revelation 21:5
THE THOUGHT
Today is a day of New Year's resolutions, of starting anew, of wiping the slate clean, of determining to do better in the future. In many ways, New Year's is a lot like the Gospel, except for one important fact: it usually doesn't work. Most people will go to the gym for a week or two, eat healthier for a couple days, try to be a better parent or spouse or worker for a little while, put a little more of each paycheck into savings for a few weeks, before lapsing back into their ordinary habits and routines. All of the self-help and self-trying and self-motivation in the world might be able to change us for a little while, it might even get us a new habit or two, but at the end of the day and the end of the year, we can't actually change ourselves. We need renovation and restoration, but we need someone to do it for us.The message of the Gospel is, "Behold, I am making all things new." Christ came to earth and lived, died, and rose to redeem us from lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession. It is Christ who changes us, and everyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come. The words that Jesus will speak at the end of time when from the throne He says, "I am making all things new," are the words He speaks today in each believer's heart. He is faithful, and what He has begun in us He will complete to the praise of His own glorious grace.
So this New Year's Eve, go ahead and make your resolutions. Examine yourself as to what needs changing, and determine to make an effort to excel in those areas in the new year. But above all, rejoice and be glad in the glorious truth of the Gospel, and embrace Jesus' words in you: "Behold, I am making all things new."
THE PRAYER
Jesus, Thank you for Your work on the cross and in the empty tomb and at the Father's right hand to purify and change me and conform me to the image of Your own glory. Help me, in this new year, to surrender myself to the renovating work of Your Spirit in me, so that all will see how You are changing me in the year ahead, and give glory to You.EXTENDED READING
2 Corinthians 5:14-17Philippians 1:3-6
Titus 2:11-14
Revelation 21:1-7
THE QUOTE
"It is a more reasonable belief of faith that intelligence is eternal and created matter, than is the faith of atheists and evolutionists that matter is eternal and it created intelligence." ~ Arthur Dowell
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