New Year: New Creation

Paul writes this: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Cor 5:17).

2013 is here.  At this transitional time, people around the world look back at the past with a critical eye.  We all want to make this year progressively better than the last.  We want to lose weight while earning more cash, and be, generally, greater than this year compared to years past.  But, beyond that, all of want this year to be at the very least a good year.

For this, I want to make a proposal to Christians to claim our identity in Christ, to stop dwelling on who we were apart from Jesus and live as we are in Him.  Claiming this identity is key.  It means that we will no longer think of ourselves, but we will earnestly set our sights on discovering who we are in Christ Jesus.

"The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."  Christians run the risk of forgetting this basic fundamental reality.  We are creations in Christ.  Our task now is to discover who we are, not in ourselves or based on what we have been, but in Christ.  This requires a good deal of personal flexibility and a certain level of selflessness.  For God wishes to surprise us by challenging our preconceptions of ourselves.

Who we think we are is nothing compared to who we actually are in Christ.  This year my prayer is to continually be impressed by God's imprint upon my life as a new creation to Him.  To be sure, this is not a passive process but is an active endeavor; a pursuit of devotion as God reveals who we are as new creations in Christ.  With this as our focus, 2013 will be a great year.

Making Time in 2013

2013 is at hand.  A new day but another year too.  As this year turns, my earnest desire is to have a year full of blessing and of devotion.  This year, I am not making resolutions per se.  Instead, I am only making a concerted and intentional point to set some sure and definite goals; no surface flippancy or whim this year.

For this year, my resolute goal is to pray better and more.  I want 2013 to be a year of seeing God's hand move in and around my life.  I pray for wisdom, for grace, for knowledge, for provision, and for miracles.  So, in the spirit of this resolution, I ask that we all spend some time today and this week in earnest and intentional prayer for 2013.  God has big plans for 2013, let us pray that we can be big part of them!