New Year musings:
This New Year's Day, we start afresh, remembering that we are a new creation in Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What does it mean to be a 'new creation' in Christ?
We have been reconciled to God, and we are equipped with the ministry of reconciliation to bring the Gospel to others.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
We are now righteous in God's eyes by Jesus' name; God doesn't count our sins against us anymore.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are no longer content with fulfilling the desires of the flesh; instead, we long for the new Heaven and Earth, for only in reunion with God will we be fully satisfied.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
And what does the new world look like? It will have God dwelling with His people (Revelation 21:3), not bound within a physical temple but woven right into the DNA of the city (v22). It will be shining (v11, 23), wealthy and precious (v18-21). Absolutely beautiful and glorious that every individual will give up his or her own glory to be given to God of this city (v24). And there will be 'no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away' (v4). Behold, He will make everything new and perfect! (v5) And it will be absolutely beautiful.
We can't wait.
So we live with eternity written on our hearts. We long to be with the Lord and live in confidence that one day, we will (2 Corinthians 5:8). We strive to please God (v9). We persuade others of the future that awaits those that God saves (v11). All this we do because we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view (v16), but one premised on eternity; one that prizes the eternal salvation of others above all other earthly happiness that one could gain.
Every New Year's Day points us to the day when God will make all things new once and for all. He will press the reset button once and for all. We will begin afresh once and for all. And we will begin in Him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What does it mean to be a 'new creation' in Christ?
We have been reconciled to God, and we are equipped with the ministry of reconciliation to bring the Gospel to others.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
We are now righteous in God's eyes by Jesus' name; God doesn't count our sins against us anymore.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are no longer content with fulfilling the desires of the flesh; instead, we long for the new Heaven and Earth, for only in reunion with God will we be fully satisfied.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
And what does the new world look like? It will have God dwelling with His people (Revelation 21:3), not bound within a physical temple but woven right into the DNA of the city (v22). It will be shining (v11, 23), wealthy and precious (v18-21). Absolutely beautiful and glorious that every individual will give up his or her own glory to be given to God of this city (v24). And there will be 'no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away' (v4). Behold, He will make everything new and perfect! (v5) And it will be absolutely beautiful.
We can't wait.
So we live with eternity written on our hearts. We long to be with the Lord and live in confidence that one day, we will (2 Corinthians 5:8). We strive to please God (v9). We persuade others of the future that awaits those that God saves (v11). All this we do because we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view (v16), but one premised on eternity; one that prizes the eternal salvation of others above all other earthly happiness that one could gain.
Every New Year's Day points us to the day when God will make all things new once and for all. He will press the reset button once and for all. We will begin afresh once and for all. And we will begin in Him.