Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Start of a New Year

On the radio today, I heard a comment about how to start the New Year right.  It had to do with letting the old one go, including the past hurts, problems, et cetera.

Kaleidoscope picture
This is true, not only at the New Year but every day as a Christian.  Jesus forgives us, and throws our sins as far away as the east is from the west. We too are required to forgive others as Jesus has forgiven us. In fact, Jesus warns us that if we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven either.

One of the main differences between Christianity and all other religions, is that Christianity teaches that we cannot ever be good enough to be forgiven or earn God's love and a place in heaven. Instead, Christ paid the penalty for my sins and yours, when He died on the cross. We cannot and do not have to earn forgiveness or the love of our God.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus each year on December 25th and this is a great place to start thinking about the New Year, new start and new life brought to us by our Savior. He entered this world as a baby so that He could experience life as a human, and sacrifice His life in our place.

So as we close the chapter on one year of our lives, and begin another, let us put past hurts, mistakes and problems behind us, and begin a new year, new life and help bring healing and grace to ourselves and our fellow man.

Just as a kaleidoscope is different every time we look in it, let us continue to change and bring glory to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ this New Year!