We’ve celebrated the arrival of the new year all around the world. Have you ever wondered why we so joyfully celebrate the coming of the New Year? Because we hope this new year will be different.
New Year’s Eve brings anticipation and hopefulness. We hope for a better year, a better day, a fresh start, a new lease on life. We hope that in this new year politicians will work together for the common good of the people.
We hope that race relations will be smoothed and friendly. We hope the economy will continue an upward journey. We hope the Cardinals will build around this new QB. OK, well that one is just me perhaps. In any case, the new year brings a sense of excitement and anticipation as we all long for a fresh start, a do over, and a new beginning.
God knows more than anyone just how deeply we have longed for a new beginning. In fact, He is the one who brought that new beginning to you. God gives to you a fresh start, a new lease on life — which is His gift to you each and every day of the year.
When we find ourselves weighed down by the baggage of the years now past, weighed down by the bricks of guilt, shame, sorrow, grief, confusion, despair, fear or doubts, God places before us the same gift day in and day out: A New Life. He gives you a new identity.
God does not call your name Shame, nor Broken, nor Hopeless, nor Unwanted. Instead, God looks upon you and He sees a child of His family, His heart’s true desire. And He longs to make you new. That is exactly what He does through Christ Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend.
We just celebrated His birth. Now we celebrate, contemplate and appreciate His life. You see, Jesus lived the perfect life we never could live because we really are broken with this sinful nature within us. He died to redeem you and set you free from the past. He rose up in new life to give new life to you too.
He knows how we get weighed down in our sinfulness. But God said, “I make all things new.” In fact, He says, “If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.”
Come explore this new life with us at Hosanna Lutheran Church, 9601 E. Brown Road, Mesa.