Knowing God In The Newness of 2020

Does the thought of the New Year make you glad or does it brew bitterness in your heart as you think about the false hope of self-betterment? Making a New Year’s resolution seemed a bit silly to me after becoming a Christian. Self-improvement mixed in with selfish gain and vanity seemed to be the marker of these self-made goals. Plus, it only seemed to plant seeds of ungratefulness in our hearts before the Lord. If not careful, these goals can lead us into more self-glory and less in the pursuit of God’s glory in our lives. Altogether, it seemed a bit worldly, at least in my black and white opinion. There was no room to see the gray. In years past, I simply didn’t have an eternal perspective on God’s beauty and purposes in the coming of a new year. 

A Reminder to Reflect

If we confess to believe what the Westminster Catechism informs us, that, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever,” then possibly the new year is a great opportunity for further reflection about our personal relationship and walk with God. 

In Psalm 4, David says, “…ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.” The reality is that a new year should make us reflect on the new as well as the old. What were some of my old ways that I desire a new take on to glorify God more in my life? And most importantly, what were the ways that God showed is grace, mercy and faithfulness to me in the past year? And how are my affections for Christ stirring up hope and expectancy for the new things to come in 2020? 

Awakening to a Heavenly Perspective
Because of the Lord’s gentle and loving grace he began to show me the condition of my heart toward the onset of a new year. My heart was cynical and hardened. Despite these negative feelings, come every new year my heart would begin to ponder. And my many thoughts would begin to wander in the excitement of a new year, a new beginning with new possibilities. But why?

The Bible tells us that God is consistent and constant. He the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). In the word, we see evidence that God is continuously making things new from Genesis to Revelation. God’s actions are not random and purposeless. He is the opposite. He is firm and steadfast in all he does, including making what was an old thing new. This is an important theme throughout the entire Bible. And we can learn more about God and his unrelenting character because his nature is to perpetually make all things new (Isaiah 43:19).

Let’s catch a glimpse of these examples in God’s word:

• God created everything new from the beginning. He spoke and made a new world including everyone and everything in it.  
  Genesis 1:1,
  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

• God will give his people a new heart and a new spirit. 
  Ezekiel 11:19, 
  And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

• Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. 
  Hebrews 9:15, 
  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

• In Christ we have access to God through the new and living way. 
  Hebrews 10:20,  
  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh”

• By God’s grace, in Christ we are a new creation. 
  2 Corinthians 5:17, 
  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

• We will be given a new name. 
  Revelation 2:17,
  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

• There will be a new Jerusalem. 
  Revelation 3:12, 
  The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

• We will sing a new song.
  Revelation 14:3,
  And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

• There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
  Revelations 21:1, 
  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

• Behold, only God himself can make all things new. 
  Revelation 21:3-5,
  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 

Embracing the New Year with Eternity in View

We can anticipate the coming year with the rich promises of the word resounding in the hearts of every believer.  Welcoming the new year of 2020 should usher all of us to dwell upon Christ and what he has done for us and less about our self-improvement. New year’s resolutions are not a worldly pursuit as long as we aim to glorify God in those new endeavors. This is because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Resting in the Resolution

Regardless of how godly our pursuits are, there has only been one true and ultimate resolution. This is a resolution that no mere man or woman could ever match. Resolution, as defined by The Lexico Oxford Dictionary means, “to make a firm decision to do or not to do something.” Jesus was the most resolute when he went to the cross. He died for us. He died to make all things new for us. Rest in him, his sacrificial love and grace so that we might live unto his glory in 2020 and into eternity. It is not about what we can do or the more we can gain. It has been and always will be about what he has done. 

Oh Lord, how far have I gone astray from living intentionally for glory? Reveal to me the ways in which I’ve actively pursued to glorify my own name and not yours. Let me not walk any farther away from you in this way. Help me cling to your word which declares the glory that is due your name. Indwelling Holy Spirit, graciously lead me to repentance and show me the way everlasting which begins first with putting my faith in Christ Jesus and resting in the salvation offered to me through grace. Make my heart believe this from the core of my being in a way that transforms the desire to glorify your name in all of my life. Thank you for your kindness and faithfulness to me this past year and all the years prior. Thank you for the forgiveness that I have been given in Christ Jesus. May I live to glorify you and only you. 

Amen.