New Year, New Opportunities
By Pastor David
As we approach the end of the year
and the beginning of another I always
look for some sound advice that we can
apply to our lives.
St. Paul writes several things in his let
ters to the early Christian churches,
usually encouraging them and support
ing them, and even correcting them
when he sees the need. A great verse
that comes to mind for me from St. Paul
is 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the
new has come. 18 All this is from God, who
through Christ reconciled us to himself
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
The start of a new year is a great
chance to put behind us all of our past
mistakes, and shortcomings, and make
a concerted effort to live differently in
the future.
Many of us will make New Year’s Resolutions, and we will be diligent at
keeping those, at least for a time, until
we fall back into old habits and patterns.
When Christ calls us to be a new creation, He is calling us to make changes that aren’t just an attempt to do better, but rather He invites us to change our patterns and put the bad habits behind us, and adopt new habits that will have a positive impact, not only on our lives, but on the lives of others as well.
Each of us is well aware of those habits that we need to change. I encourage
you to first spend some time with God
in prayer, and ask for God’s help to do
better.
As St. Paul shares, it is Christ who has
reconciled us to Himself, and so we
need to allow Him to enter in our lives,
and to be able to do His work.
When Christ challenges us, we need to
listen. We He encourages us, we need to
respond. We He inspires us, we need to
let others know the impact Christ has
made in our lives.
God bless all y’all in this New Year!
Pastor David
