We are entering January, the first month of the new year. Many people use this time of year to try to stop old, bad habits or start new, good ones.
This makes me think of what happens for those who have trusted in Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” We are given new life when we trust in Christ. The old is not only gone, but we are made new! This is what we receive in Christ. We see in the Old Testament book of Lamentations, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness”, Lamentations 3:22-23.
Hebrews tells us that we have access to God by a “new and living way” through Christ. We have new opportunity every day to live out of the new life in Christ we have been given. We know that God is “making all things new”. This is available to us not just every year, but every day.
Malcolm Smith said this concerning our new life in Christ, “Christianity is not a formula, but the Person of Jesus Himself. Never think that Christianity is a matter of adjusting behavior, but rather, of letting Christ live through us in His strength and power.”
May this be a year in which we live out of this new life in Christ every day!
Love in Christ,
Eric