Happy New Year
Can we really be at the end of another year? Wasn’t it just a few days ago we were turning our calendars to 2013? It seems like we just got into the habit of writing 2013. Now we must retrain ourselves to write 2014! Wow, how time flies.
So, what did you accomplish in 2013? Was it a “happy” new year? What makes you happy? Happiness and joy are essential to life. Wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart does good like a medicine…” Some people try to “medicate” themselves to happiness. What they find is that no medicine can bring lasting happiness. Rather, a joyful heart will keep us looking at life from a healthy perspective. And, as we know, genuine joy and happiness come from a right relationship to the Lord. So, did your happiness in 2013 come from that source? May 2014 by a “happy” new year as you draw closer to the Lord.
Was 2013 “new” for you? Did you get some new things? Maybe this was year to replace your old car with a new one? Or, maybe you swapped out your old refrigerator for new one? Or, maybe you moved into a new home? But, sooner or later, all of these new things simply become old. They will fade and deteriorate. What about you, are you new? Did you just keep doing all the “old” things? Or, did you grow spiritually so that you added new things to your walk with your Saviour? Revelation 21:5 says, “Behold, I make all things new.” Our God is in the business of replacing old, worn out things with new ones. How well did you do in 2013 replacing your old ways with new ways? Reread Ephesians 4:22-24 to be reminded of this process.
How long was your “year”? You might be saying, “what a ridiculous question.” Of course, we were all given 365 days in 2013. That breaks down to 12 months or 52 weeks or 8,760 hours or 525,600 minutes or 31,536,000 seconds! And, as of January 1, 2014 another set of those numbers will be available. But, just as in 2013, so also in 2014, some of us will not make it to December 31. Our life will have ended some where in those days. Moses says in Psalm 90:12, “Lord teach us to number our days…” This year, will you go through life oblivious to eternity? 2014 is to be another opportunity to prepare ourselves for life after death. Which of us reading these words will not be on the earth at the end of 2014? I don’t know, but I do know some will not be.
As you reflect upon the new year, may the Lord give us a “happy new year” because we receive our joy from a right relationship to Himself, because we are being made new by His grace, and we are willing to reflect upon eternity. Let’s decide now to make 2014 a truly HAPPY NEW YEAR!
For you younger people, it is a picture of a punch card which was the way we “communicated” with a computer before the days of our keyboard! It was labor intensive and not particularly reliable. One wrong punch and your whole job was simply “punched out.” But, done properly the data inserted would result in some kind of information in the end.