 At the beginning of each year, most of us have feelings of hope in starting new again. These feelings are usually short-lived as we resume our daily "doings."
In contrast, eternal life mean that God has transformed our "beings!" We are now and foreve brand new each moment! Our bodies are indeed dying, but our new spirits indwelt by Christ are forever new! This means that there is hope to live a fulfiled life each and every moment in Christ!
And be sure that our enemy is warring against us to tempt us to live as if Christ were not living in us.
REGRET or REDEMPTION
We can be tempted to live in the oldness of the past by regretting certain things we have done. Yet, all the regrets in the world cannot change those things already done. To choose to regrt is to choose a futile bondage to the past.
The good news is that God through Jesus Christ has redeemedall things in our past so that we can live in the fullness of the present with Him! In Christ, we are truly free.
Our feelings may not yet be up to speed with this truth. However, by faith, not by feelings, we can personally receive and grow in experiencing the following promise from God:
We know that all things work together for good
to those who love God and to those
who are called according to His purpose.
ROMANS 8:28
WRESTLING or REST
We can be tempted to live in the unknown of the future by striving (wrestling) to do better so that things will be better. Yet, futile striving for a better future can deflect our attention from living in the "best" of the present. Fruitful striving is experienced in the present through resting in trusting Christ living in us! He unfolds the future that we actually experience as our on-going present!
This does not mean we shouldn't have goals. It does mean, however, that our greatest purpose in all of life is experiencing Christ moment by moment. And it is even the Spirit of Christ in us who reveals and nurtures our true desires and goals!
We preach Christ in you, the hope of glory,
striving according to His working which works in my mightily.
COLOSSIANS 1:27-29
HOPE IN CLOSING
Hoping that the past can somehow be changed or that the future can be bettered by our self-efforts is a false hope. This hope views life as a series of events, where some events are significant and some events are insignificant.
However, God has given us a confident hope in the indwelling Christ who promises to fulfill God's purpose for us in each unfolding moment. This hope is based on life as an ongoing relationship with Christ. And not one event is insignificant in this relationship. God uses "all things to work together for good."
T.W. Hunt defines hope as "the present enjoyment of a future reality." I really like that.
Living out of relationship with Christ instead of living from one event to the next event frees us to truly relate to others instead of just having encounters with others.
I hope this Rest Stop and the following verse encourages you at the start of this new year:
Rejoice in hope,
be patient in tribulation,
continue steadfastly in prayer.
ROMANS 12:12
Happy New Year!
Cherishing each minute with my wife Joy at a Bed & Breakfast in the North Carolina mountains on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. :)
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