There’s just something neat about new.
The smell of a new car, the look and feel of a new gadget, the cuteness of a new puppy.
Many of us get excited about a new year.
There’s optimism in the air, isn’t there? Yep, I messed up last year, but this year’s gonna be different.
It’s a beautiful new slate, clean start, fresh beginning.
New me for the new year, as they say.
God likes new things too, something Paul celebrates here:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
God gives newness, but it’s not tied to the calendar, of course.
And it has nothing to do with weight loss or gym memberships or quickly-made-but-easily-forgotten resolutions.
He gives newness in Christ.
In fact, he recreates us in Christ, which is incredible.
All those sins?
Gone.
The guilt, hopelessness, living only for self?
A thing of the past.
God gives you a new identity with a new hope, a new outlook, and a new future.
Maybe that’s just what you need on this last day of 2012.
Maybe you got sidetracked this year, got your priorities out of whack, became a little self-serving.
Now’s a good time to change that.
God’s not bound by our calendars, of course, but there’s no better time than today to ask God to give you a fresh start.
If you’re not a follower of Christ, trust in him as God’s Son and connect to his crucifixion in baptism.
Maybe you obeyed the gospel long ago, but today what you need more than anything is for him to be your Lord and Savior once again.
Ask him.
He’ll make you new, completely new, beautifully new.
In Christ, “the new has come.”
