Happy New Year

The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time, purpose and season for everything (Ecc 3:1). So now we have arrived at the time and season of reflection. What was 2010 like for you? Was this last year all you thought it would be? At the end of 2010, is your life what you thought it would be like at the start of 2010? Did your life change over this last year in ways you never imagined? Some thoughts as we look out at the new year of 2011.

God is in control. While our lives may or may not have turned out this last year as we anticipated, nothing that happened this last year was a surprise to God. In this time of economic, political and societal uncertainty, God is still on the throne and He still reigns. I’ve read the end of the story and He wins. There is nothing that will happen in this coming year that is going to catch God off guard. God knew before the foundation of the world that we would need a Savior and that Savior came when the time was right ( 1 Pe 1:20, Gal 4:4). He knows us before we are even born and the number of our days ( Ps 139:14-16). He watches over us and knows our coming in and our going out (Ps 121). He has plans to prosper us, for good and not for harm (Jer 29:11). He knows that humanity is fragile (Ps 103:14-16) and will not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear (1 Cor 10:13). That is not to say that the coming year is going to be necessarily easy and painless. For some, this year is going to bring testing, pain, and change. Others will have a year of joy and blessings and the rest of us will experience the extremes of life and everything in between! God is able to deliver and He will be faithful to the very end. Even if we feel like God has abandoned us-He has not.

God meets us where we are in life. David was an adulterer and murderer, Manasseh was an apostate king and the worst king Judah ever had, Peter for a time was faithless, John the Baptist and Thomas both had a period of doubting, Paul was a murderer and God met each one of these people where they were at that time in their lives. He didn’t expect them to change before He met them, which is great news for us. BUT and it’s a big one-while it is true that God met them where they were and will meet us where we are, He expected them and will expect us to change. Each one of those men did change their lives. Just because God meets us where we are in our lives does not mean He approves of where we are in our lives. God meeting us where we are is not an excuse to stay where we are. In fact we are not to stay where we are when He meets us but we are to move forward and to be transformed into the image of Christ. We are like Paul to strive toward the mark of the high calling of God, running our races to win the victor’s crown. In this coming year, remember we have the peace of Christ within us and we need not be fearful or afraid.