New Year…New You

2023.


A new year is here. Now what?


Is New Years just a time to celebrate the turning of the calendar by counting down the clock with a crystal ball in New York City, setting off breathtaking, fantastic fireworks, making personal resolutions, sipping some bubbly and kissing someone you love, or could it be a significant turning point in our life?


I believe what a new year brings is up to you and me.


One of the major truths throughout the Bible is that God is always doing something new.


From Genesis to Revelation, and everything in between, God is about the business of making things new. The Apostle John, the receiver of the revelation of things to come, wrote by the Holy Spirit “And He who sits on the throne, said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5


God is a God of new. New is normal for the Sovereign Lord or the universe. It is in His holy nature to do new. God’s faithful, true word declares He does new things. Guess what? Our heavenly Father loves to do new for me and you!


One of my favorite verses in scripture is found in Isaiah 43:18-19a which reads “
“Do not call to mind the former things, or dwell on the things of the past. Behold, I will do something new.” Numerous times throughout my faith journey the Lord used this verse to reassure me that He would do something new in me.


At a significant juncture in my journey, I was deeply depressed, despairing of life, and uncertain about the future. The Lord lovingly overwhelmed me, a broken guy who was struggling to find his way back from a life setback. Oh, how I needed to hear that God was going to do something new! God, not Steve or anyone else would deliver me from the “former things,” the hurtful “things of the past” that I was dwelling on.


“Behold” means to pay attention. Listen up. The Holy Spirit spoke to me: Steve, yesterday is history. The old is behind. The future is forward. Your Father in heaven is going to do something new. Note the word says, “WILL DO something new,” not might, or hope to do. What a promise from the Promise Keeper!


With His help, I focused on something new, not something old. Today, not yesterday. Over time, my attitude and life changed. The Lord brought me back from my setback. I am a comeback kid in Christ who knows the power of God doing something new!


Do you need something new in 2023? Are you tired of dwelling on yesterday? How is focusing on hurt, pain and heartache helping you to move forward? Do you really think the Lord wants you to drag negative baggage into your faith journey in the New Year?


Time to close out 2022 and open the door of 2023 with some new luggage!


Something New In You In The New Year


I do not know what the something new in you should be in 2023. But you and God do. Here are a few suggestions that may apply to your life.

• Get things right with the Lord. You know what they are.
• Commit to be a positive influence for God’s Kingdom in 2023.
• Stand up. Stand out. Stand boldly. Stand strong for Jesus Christ.
• Make right something you did wrong in 2022.
• Restore a relationship that matters to you.
• Deal a death blow to secret sin.
• Overcome a bad habit. Defeat a stronghold.
• Overcome something that has beaten you down for years.
• Speak your confession of faith with confidence.
• Clean up your language. Flush your potty mouth!
• Watch your words. Confess life, not death with your mouth.

Resolutions, like gym memberships and diet plans, last about three weeks. Commitments to make significant changes in our life, with God’s help, can last a lifetime.


Write down what your something new in the New Year is going to be. ____________ _____________________________________________________________________.


 Could it be there is someone in your life that would love to see you do something new for you in 2023? Someone who genuinely cares about you is pulling for you to do better in an area of your life and hoping you will do something about it.


Why not surprise them with a new you in the New Year!


You might live a better life than I do. But I know this about me, I need something new all the time! I really do. Just ask my wife…I am sure she has an idea or two for me in 2023!


Robert Schuler has said “It takes guts to leave the ruts. A rut is a grave with the ends kicked out.” Doing the same old thing, the same old way is being stuck in a rut. Living in a rut is not God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for His followers.


Refuse to stay stuck in an old rut. Choose to do something new. Get out of the rut you have been in before it becomes your grave.


Every day, not just New Year’s, is an opportunity to be and do something new in Christ.
    
A new you in the New Year…why not? Look to the Lord to do something new in you in the New Year.


“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Ii Corinthians 5:17


A Word For Your Week: Something new in you in 2023.