The New Year
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1: 16-18)
New Year: New Journey?
Although the New Year has been celebrated on many different dates through history, there is always a sense of endings and beginnings surrounding it. In the Roman Republic and Empire, they celebrated January 1 as the first day of the New Year like we do now. January is named for Janus, who is the Roman god of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings. In the Biblical Hebrew calendar, the year doesn’t start on January 1 but in the spring month of Nisan. The important thing there is that Nisan 1 is tied to the Exodus! The Hebrews plotted their year from the date they left Egypt for the promised land, and to earth’s signs of new life. And several medieval European nations, including England and France, tied the New Year to Easter.
What these dates all had in common was something new: an ending to a year, the beginning of another. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the new year is tied to the great works of God in history – Exodus, Easter. New life and new beginnings; resurrection, new wine into new wineskins, new creatures in Christ. This is the whole point of God’s dealing with us, that by believing in Jesus Christ we are actually made new people. In this manner of thinking we can celebrate New Year’s, as a memorial to the great work of God in the past year, and as a signpost leading us onward in the will of God.
Honoring God
So what can we do to honor God’s activity in our live at New Year’s? First, let’s look at what honoring God is not.
Honoring God is not about making resolutions. Resolutions are fine and good. But every time you make one and then break it – usually after the first week in January if you are anything like me – you have broken a promise. And this kind of brokenness lodges in your heart like a thorn, making it easier to break the resolution next time. In terms of the journey, resolutions are like throwaway maps that you keep leaving out under the rain. Guess what happens to them?
Honoring God is not about trying to do things under our own power. We think about resolutions in terms of our own power. People can and do change as a result of them – people quite smoking, lose weight, grow kinder because they are determined to it. But how often are we determined to keep those resolutions? They’re like fortune cookies. Crack them open, read them, and eat them! All gone.
Honoring God IS about listening to Him and doing what He tells you to do.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)
Not sure what God is telling you to do? Ask!
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5,6)
Well great, I hear you say, what if I struggle with doubt? Then ask about that too.
So they brought [in the possessed boy.] When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:20-24)
Activity
- Share a major blessing in your life from the ending year. Thank God for them!
- Now practice listening to God for each other. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (Mark 5:16b) We’ll pray first, and then we’ll go to the Bible. Each person ask God who He has a message for. Now ask God to lead you to a verse or passage in the Bible that is for that person. You may not receive a word for anyone, you may receive it for 1 person, you may receive it for more. It’s all good. Just ask God. Let’s pray together first and then turn to your Bibles. Now, don’t force it. If you feel that God does not have a word for another person through you then don’t worry about it. God’s timing is perfect.
- Pray for each other, pray for wisdom: wisdom to see the path clearly.
