What makes a year “new”? If each year were filled with the same things, the same troubles, the same blessings, the same experience day after day, could it really be called new? The new year has long been seen as a time of new beginnings. A new year gives us the hope that things might be different this time around, that things will be better as time moves on.
Yet, in order for things to be truly different in our lives, our lives must be truly different. If you were to live the same way, be the same person, make the same choices, could you really be called new? Of course not. New life is found in new living.
As Christians we celebrate the gift of a new life through faith in Jesus Christ. We celebrate that because of Jesus there really is a new beginning because he gives us the power to live a new life of love toward God and toward each other. Will this year really be “New”? By God’s grace it can be.
This year we can lay hold of a new life as we live out our faith in Christ day by day. We see our Lord at work through his many blessings here at Trinity as we welcome new faces to our congregation and staff, there really is new life to live together.
I pray for your new year, that it will truly be new, that your life will be renewed in Christ as you follow him in this year ahead. May your eyes be opened anew to God’s Word, may you know that your prayers are heard by our Lord, and may your thoughts, words, and deeds be formed into a new and greater life in this year ahead.