Today is the last day of 2017. At midnight tonight we not only turn the page, we open a whole new calendar with 365 blank pages waiting to be filled. Are we approaching the New Year with hope and eager anticipation or with fear or dread? Where I live in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb, we had about four inches of snow on Christmas Eve followed by forecasts for weeks of single digit and even below zero temperatures. It reminds me of Psalm 147:16-18, “He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then, at his command, it all melts. He sends his winds and the ice thaws.” So right now I’m hoping for and anticipating the thaw. But trusting in Jesus Christ gives us much more for which to hope and anticipate than just a change in temperature.
A very good friend of mine describes his conversion this way, “When I was told that God was offering me complete amnesty from all of my sins by repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as my savor, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.” It is only through the grace of God that we can begin each day with a clean slate free of past sins, regrets, pains, fears and anger. I am told the Greek word used in the New Testament for repent actually means changing your mind. We not only need to change our heart through faith in Christ; we need to change our mind about how we approach the present and our future. Paul writes, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
Those blank pages will fill up fast with job and family responsibilities. There will be things we must do; things we should do; and things we want to do in the New Year. There will also be pressure from the enemy to divert our energy and time to trivial or meaningless things. We must ask God daily to help us fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. (Philippians 4:8) It all boils down to how we will spend our time in the days, weeks and months ahead of us in 2018.
It has been said that the most precious gift we can give anyone is our time because it is something we can never get back. My experience has taught me that when we make time for God, for those we love and for others around us who are in need, we will fulfill our own needs in the process.
I pray that each of you have a healthy, fruitful and blessed New Year one day at a time.