A New Beginning

A new year has begun.  New things always seem cool.  I remember getting new toys as a kid and thinking how awesome they were.  I would play with them for approximately 10 minutes and then move on to the next cool thing.  After all of my new Christmas gifts were exhausted I would usually go back and play with the boxes all my new stuff came in.  And when those boxes were destroyed I would go back to playing with my old toys.  A new car seems great until you think about the fact that it loses a huge chunk of its value the moment it drives off the lot. 

Each year we come up with new ideas for how we are going to make this year better than the last, but at the end of the day we realize that there is really not that much different in this new year.  The one thing that new things bring is hope.  That is why we like new things.  They represent hope that this thing will be better than other things.  It is the hope that really gets us excited.  The hope that we will do better on this year's diet.  The hope that our relationships will be better this year.  The hope that we will have more disposable income.  It is hope.  And the letdown is when the hope disappoints because it is misplaced.  We have placed our hope in things, in events beyond our control and in people who are destined to disappoint us. 

This does not mean however things are hopeless.   There is something we can place our hope in that will never disappoint.  In fact, the Bible is clear that in the midst of our difficulties, in the midst of trials and tribulations, that we can have a hope that will not disappoint. 

Romans 5:5-6 says:
     ". . . and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

We have hope because of the salvation offered us in Christ and Christ alone.  So this year what may be missing from your life may not be a new car, or a new diet, or a new idea.  What is missing is that you need to be made a new creation in Christ. 

If you would like to know more about this, please contact our church at 231.894.2686.  If you have already placed your faith and trust in Christ than praise God for the hope that we have regardless of what 2017 throws at us!