New Year, New Ways

Each year as the year begins, we often make New Year’s resolutions about what we will change, do, or do differently in the upcoming year. These resolutions are sometimes silly and sometimes they are serious, but I think the idea of a New Years’ resolution is a defined point at which we can say, “from this point forward, I will ….

” Often, many of these resolutions are broken pretty quickly. Most of us have heard that the first month of the year is far, far, busier than other months at the local gym as people begin falling away from their resolutions. It is a part of human nature that at the first sign of struggle, we are the most vulnerable to quitting.

I want to let you in on a resolution you can make, that will not fail. We each have been given a new start, a new beginning through Jesus Christ. What Christ did for us, allows us to be forgiven of our sins, whenever they occur. This is not just a forgiveness that occurs once, but it is a gift we receive throughout our lives, forgiveness offered any time we confess and repent of our failures to be the way Christ calls us to be.

Now that is a resolution that you can live with! To live as a forgiven person, to acknowledge your sin, and to turn and go in a better direction. This is perhaps the only resolution that if you fail, you can start back up again without feeling like you lost your momentum or your progress.

So this year, will you join me in accepting Christ’s gift to us? Will you live as a forgiven person, losing the guilt and shame of past failures, and living a new life in Christ as a loved, created Child of God?

What a gift we have each been given through Jesus Christ! His sacrifice for us means a new start, a forgiven past, and an eternal life! May this New Year truly be one in which you live knowing you are forgiven, loved and saved!

In Him,

Pastor Jon