We say it! We send out greetings throughout the Christmas season wishing people a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I personally end much of my written correspondence during the holiday season with, “Praying God’s richest and best for you in the New Year.” Yet, I wonder if we put as much effort behind these words as we do the often cliché answer we as believers give to people in need – “I’ll be praying for you, friend.” All the while we never again think of their circumstance or even once lift them up in prayer, just as we put no effort into the NEW of a New Year.
What if 2020 could truly be a NEW year!? I’ve said it here, “Dead people live like dead people. I’m not sure why we’re so surprised at what we see unregenerate people do.” I, for years in traveling this country in evangelism (preaching camps, crusades, revivals, stadium events) often shared a message entitled, Life with No Regrets. It seems rather hysterical that one would even suggest such a thing – we all have regrets. However, for those of us who’ve found a new life because of Christ, and truly live as one who has been restored, creation to Creator, we know for a fact that there is life, NEW LIFE when our hearts and minds are transformed by a personal encounter with the King of All Creation. So, to live a truly new life, a life not regretting the choices we make, is genuinely realistic. It’s just the sacrifice it takes to live a different way which becomes the big obstacle.
I want a changed life, I don’t want to wake up tomorrow regretting my behavior of today, but in order for that to happen, my choices today have to be surrendered to a greater cause than myself. From losing weight to quitting smoking, to becoming better stewards of the twenty-four-hour windows they receive each time they awake, still sucking and blowing wind, countless bazillions of people made “New Year’s Resolutions” of one kind or another as the year 2020 dawned. Chances are, even by the time this article is published, over half of those good intentions have been abandoned in selfish will instead of the greater good intended.
I wrote an journal entry related to this in my first book, back in 1998, but what if, just WHAT IF, instead of resolutions, we made absolute revolutions!? Webster defines the word revolution as a complete turn (such as the planets in our solar system revolving on an axis), a sudden, radical and complete change. WOW! What if, instead of resolving to change something, in our own strength, which has already proven to be a futile effort, what if we totally change our direction by admitting our weakness in a specific area, and asking for help in making a complete turn, moving toward a new direction so that the issue of whatever kind is behind us, not before us?
I began by speaking about dead people, spiritually dead. The reality is, and I say it often in speaking, “The only changed life comes from a changed heart; and the only one capable of changing the heart of a man (gender free term) is the One who created that heart.” Christ, the One of whom we speak and sing and celebrate at Christmas is the one and only means of us becoming regenerated people – going from old to new. In Him, resolving to do something new or giving up something old, becomes an act of self-surrender. He, in His own words, said, “Behold, I make ALL things new . . .” (Revelation 21:5) The Apostle Paul, one of His greatest followers also said that IF we decide to surrender our will to His and claim a truly new life, there would be evidence that we have “Let go” and given absolute control of our lives to Him instead of trying to hold the reigns of this ride called life on our own. (II Cor. 5:17)
What about you friend? What will it be? 2020 is still a fresh, clean slate. As a matter of fact, we read in an historical book called Lamentations that this new life is available EVERY SINGLE DAY. It’s only because of God’s granting of new mercies every single day that we are not consumed by what we deserve. So even if you’ve already screwed up in 2020 and regret is fresh on your plate, the Creator of the Universe says that His mercies are new, even this morning. What about a fresh start, NOW!? In this New Year we can speak the common phrase, “Happy New Year” as kindly and genuinely as we want, and it will be well received by most. We can plan for ourselves a new year, with the false hope that in our own strength we can change something about our lives – resolve to do something new/different. Wait until the end of 2020. Things will still be the same in 2021.
Isn’t it time you make a true revolution, a complete turn from having things your way (this life is not a Burger King commercial) to having things the way that they were intended to be – you, a priceless, one-of-a-kind creation, fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of the King of the Universe, surrendered to His will, in an genuinely new life, leaving the old behind? Haven’t your efforts in your own strength failed you enough? Are you not tired of waking up day-after-day, regretting the decisions of yesterday? Friend, it’s time, and the opportunity is today!
There’s no promise that things will be easier, no quit-claim-deed to a residence on Easy Street as some lying “preachers” would attempt to sell you a health-and wealth gospel as truth. Still in all, what is promised is a NEW life and One who will in His strength be your overcomer so that this New Year, truly becomes a new life, by His design and in His strength, not yours.
New Year’s Blessings, Friend, Brother Royce I Cor. 9:16
