Happy DIFFERENT Year!

The Possibility of an INSTANT “Fresh Start!”

James 13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (ESV)

Clean Sheet New Year’s Syndrome

New Year’s excitement is a little comical to me, but I get it.

We are just like that kindergartener with the “Clean Sheet Syndrome.” He messes up his paper and then asks the teacher for a new one. He’s so excited about the “fresh start” the clean sheet offers. And we get excited too-except we love the fresh start a whole New Year offers.

It’s almost like we need an annual excuse to declare a fresh start. (As if Mondays aren’t enough…) But if we’re honest, the opportunity the New Year offers really happens every day…every moment, even.

Because “New Year’s” day? It’s just a “Different” day, though not much different from any other new day.

Sure, the calendar says it’s a “New Year”. BUT. We have to look no further than the renewal we have in Christ to begin again afresh.

And if we are alive one more second it is reason enough to begin anew celebrating the Creator who makes it all possible.

I Could Be “Vaporized” Today

It’s funny to me how people look ahead to this New Year as if we will actually be here for the whole thing!

As we are mapping out all of the dreams we plan to accomplish for the year, we need to realize that we might not make it through today-or even beyond this moment.

And don’t get me wrong-looking ahead is good as long as it is balanced with the words of James-“If the Lord wills we will do this or that.” And if we are doing “this or that” according to the Lord’s will, we can’t go wrong! (Read this-fo’ REAL! 2 Cor 5:17-20)

Let’s face facts-our lives “are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” That is a sobering thought. If we live like we might be “vaporized” today-like today is our last day on earth- I guarantee that will change the way we do things!

If that isn’t a renewed focus, I don’t know what is!

That Moment We Forget about the Wonder of Christ

We fall face-first into the mundane so easily.

We forget the awe and wonder-the sheer AMAZINGNESS-that our bodies are living, breathing, and thinking creations made FOR God. And just like that! (Insert finger snapping sound ->here<-) we need something to jolt us back into a vigor for life that we already possess if we are in Christ.

Though the New Year is the grand pappy of all fresh starts to renew that vigor, honestly, that is a looong time to wait to re-charge if we fail in the first week, or even the first DAY!!

But what if we decided to look at each moment of our lives as an opportunity to honor God? What if we intended to devote everything we do as an act of worship to HIM?

Our focus could be INSTANTLY renewed. And truth be told, our focus is in CONSTANT need of tweaking!! (Read this, too! 2 Cor. 5:15)

So when things get fuzzy and murky this year (TODAY), and we are tempted to ask God for a proverbial “clean sheet,” let’s reset our thinking to believe that we don’t have to wait until Monday or the New Year to make a change. We can renew our focus and have a fresh start any time we need it…every minute of every day.

And we don’t need to flip a page in a new calendar for that rekindling! We simply need to flip through a few pages of the word of truth for INSTANT renewal!

Happy DIFFERENT Year to you!!

Photo Credit: Creation Swap, Kelly Sikkema, Messed Up