Do you think that as we enter a new year, it will be filled with uncertainty and anxiety? If so, do you think we may be tempted to yearn for the “Good Ol’ Days? When life was simple, and Love was easy?
Intriguingly, Ecclesiastes warns us: “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions’” (Ecc. 7:10 NIV84). Why not ask such questions?
Perhaps one answer is: Just as it is hard to drive a car staring in the rear-view mirror, it is hard to live life always looking back at the past. Ahead are only crashes ….
But perhaps another reason is: The Lord has planned better “things” ahead for us. Beyond what often becomes a trite cliché, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19 ESV), He truly has something wonderful in the future for us. But you may ask: How can I say this with all the dreadful things happening from deaths to lockdowns?
One reason I can say this is, of late I have been stretching out with my mustard-seed-faith to really grab the truth: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28 NIV84 emphasis added). All things, even my foolish and silly “mistakes”! All things.
So, in this new year perhaps you can join me in following the Apostle Paul’s declaration of determination:
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – (Philippians 3:10–14 NIV2011)
Peace,
Pastor Mike