Another year gone!

Another year gone and where are we?  That is the question we ask ourselves at the end of each year but often the answers give a resume of acts of accomplishments (or not) that have filled our days.  We think of the projects that have been completed, the successful business that has transpired or perhaps the amount of money we have made or debt we have piled up.  

Many of us think of who got married, who had a baby or how our family has grown or moved away.  Perhaps we think about the visitors that have passed our way and the friendships we have made.  Sadly for some there have been tragedy, heartaches and failures that we wish we could forget.  Of the events that have filled our year, some have already faded away but some have been imprinted indelibly on our minds and hearts.

Amongst all these things I would like to think that from each and every event something of worth has been added or a valuable lesson learned.  I hope that my character has grown in graciousness and more harsh edges chipped away.  How wonderful it would be if we could look back and see that our love has been a blessing to others.  

Most of all however I would like to know that my love for my God and saviour Jesus has grown to a place where I didn’t notice myself at all but saw only how much He loves me and those around me.

All too sadly though we find ourselves in the place of Paul the apostle who said, “Wretched man that I am!”  Why did he say this?  In context we see why.  He wrote, “I see in my members (that is in me, in my flesh) another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (what “I” want to do).  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  (Romans 7:23-25)

Some of our year's achievements

If we think along the lines of changing this situation by ourselves, by our will or knowledge or self effort we continue to fail, we continue to come up short.  Solomon tried and failed.  “Vanity of vanities” he said, “all is just chasing after the wind”.  We too cannot rectify our own situation. What is the answer to this dilemma?

The apostle gives us the answer, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”  Paul learned that there is nothing of this life or in us that is capable of living the life the way we should.  None of this world’s solutions will lead us to love God and others so we can love ourselves. 

Only when we rest in the finished work of God through Jesus Christ and accept that He has paid the price for our imperfection can we have the Spirit of God in us.  Only then can we call on Him for the power to love, the wisdom to love and the motivation to love.

How about you?  Has your year been marked with God centred selfless giving and caring for those without love?  Can you look back and see those precious times where God has been able to touch someone else through you because you were given over to Him?  If not then it is time to stop trying and start letting.  As believers in Christ we must stop trying to make things work by ourselves, start letting God shine through us so that the right kind of momentous occasions will last into eternity.

If, however you are one who does not believe that Christ is God’s Son, that He alone was able and did pay the penalty for our sin (imperfect before God), then now is the time to change.  Be honest with yourself and with God, admit to Him that you are wretched (like Paul did) and trust that He has forgiven you.  I can empathise with you because I was once there and counted myself a failure but I thank God that His forgiveness is real and in Him my failure is forgiven.   Why make your next year as pointless for eternity as the last? 

If you are willing to admit that you truly cannot make it alone then put your trust in Jesus today, He will forgive you and the Father will accept you.  If you turn to Him then next year you will find peace through your trials and in the end have eternity with God.

Acts 4:11-13 (English Standard Version)

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."