HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MORE…

It is getting close to the end of 2017 and the beginning of another year. Time seems to have gone so fast and I feel as if the New Year has come before I am ready for it. Maybe it is because there has been such big changes in my life recently. And change is hard, it can be difficult and it can be painful and exhausting. 

Of course I am not alone in my heartbreak I need only look at the newspapers or listen to other people around me to see a world in despair. Illness, loss, political and financial instability, broken homes and lives, such deep sadness and anxieties press in on every side or so it seems.

Yet here we are on the cusp of 2018 and we will celebrate, we will shout and sing and say or text and tweet to all we meet “Happy New Year”.

But it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Happy New Year when you may be facing difficult days because of the death of a loved one, or illness, or a confusing and hurtful situation. You may be facing redundancy, marriage breakdown, family break up. 2018 may not be a happy year for you.

Sometimes “Happy” is not enough- it won’t cover all the sorrow in life. We need something more than happy, something that goes beyond the now, something that is eternal.

If you need something more than a perfunctory greeting as the clock strikes a new year in, begin by remembering that God has not just given a new year but He has given us new life in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come

Romans 6:4

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Remember the past and look ahead to the future, remember where you have come from and look ahead to where you are going.

Jesus came, died and was resurrected and He is coming back. Because of this we have hope and we have new life as He lives in us through His Spirit.

What a gift, new life in Jesus, the greatest gift of all.

Not only has He given us new life in Him but the promise that He will make everything new gives hope in even the darkest hour. It might not look or feel like it but God tells us

 Isiaiah 65:17:  

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

Revelation 21:5

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

So if “Happy New Year” just won’t cut it for you, if it just isn’t enough to cover the pain and heartbreak weighing you down, you can look beyond this. You can gaze upon Jesus, the One who gave His life that you can have new life. Look to His kindness, his mercy and his grace that is extended in love to you not just as the clock strikes and rings in a New Year but He is available every moment of every day and gives hope not just for the moment but for tomorrow and the next day for this New Year and the next.

Hope for eternity.