Happy New Year to you on this great first Monday of 2015! God has been so good to My wife and I this past year filled with many memories and just different ways on how God has worked in our lives. 2014 has been wonderful but here’s the question that the year 2015 asks us as Followers of Jesus.
What is it that we need to change or start doing this year in our lives?
The best thing about King Jesus is that He sits on a Throne of Grace allowing us to receive mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16) That means this, that whatever has happened, meaning any mess-up, evilness, apathy, or any ungodliness that was present in 2014, can be forgiven because we have a forgiving Savior. (1 John 1:9) Isn't that a blessing!? Praise God for his abundant grace and unending mercy.
So what is it that should be different about 2015? We need to examine ourselves with the help of scripture to see if we are living upright godly lives and if we are not then that is what needs to be changed first and foremost. Our aim as Christians is to please God and it is impossible to do so without a living and active faith. (Hebrews 11:6) See when scripture teaches us that we live in the present age (Titus 2:12), which would be 2015, it doesn’t teach us to live like the present age. We as followers are not called to be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)
So do you need to change from lawlessness to godliness? Do you need to start memorizing Gods word so that you may be able to recognize what's pleasing to the Lord? Maybe you just need to start being obedient to All of Gods word instead of just obeying half of it. Maybe you need to change the way you treat others since your called to Love them just as Christ Loved us. (John 13:34)
Listen I know that making simple life changes can be scary, but do you know what’s even scarier? Regret. My prayer is that you would start or change whatever it is you need to this new year in your life as a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I hope that it would be your goal, just like it was Paul’s, to live out this new year with a mindset of this: "As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20)
Blessings,
Anthony Vargas
