Happy Absolution Day

“Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:22-23  


It’s been well said that we all have a hunger for “landmarks in time” that help us to transition from one moment to another. New Years for many people is a “landmark in time” in that it naturally helps us transition from one thing to another. For many of us, the start of a new year is a clean slate as it were, a day of new beginnings. Behavioral scientists call it the, “fresh start effect”. It’s as if all our past failures from the previous year are no longer with us, no longer are they able to define us as the new year has set us free from the past. We can think to ourselves, “That’s not me. That’s the old me, and the new me is not going to make those same mistakes this year”. Oh how we all wish that were true.

So, if you think about it, New Years Resolutions aren’t really all that new. They probably are pretty much the same resolutions carried over from year to year with slight modifications here and there. Maybe a better term should be, “New Years Absolutions” since that’s what we are really wanting and hoping for from the previous year.

The good news today loved one is God knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows we all need “fresh starts” in this life, that each of us need marked moments in our lives when we get a “do over” and are set free from our past failures and can find forgiveness as well as new beginnings. And the really good news today is we don’t need to wait until New Years Day to receive absolution. God’s mercies are new every morning!

God’s mercy is what draws the line for us between the old you and the new you. When God sent Jesus to die upon the Cross in your place and mine, He did so to draw a very clear and distinct line between the old and the new you. When we receive God’s grace by receiving His Son as our personal Savior and Lord, we are immediately Born Again, and as the Word of God declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Coming to Jesus Christ is the best way to experience and enjoy a fresh start in life and I’m not just talking about one time when you open your heart to Jesus and invite Him in for the very first time. I’m talking about each and every time you need a dividing line between the old you and the new you.  Don’t forget, the mercies of God are new every morning and great is His faithfulness! Don’t forget that each and every time you and I confess our sins to God He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! God majors in making things new, giving new life to things that were dead and in doing so creating the dividing line between the old you and the new you!

Do you need a fresh start today, loved one? Do you need a “do over”? Don’t wait for the next New Year’s Eve to experience the, “fresh start effect”. Come to Jesus today and every day! Experience the mercy and grace of God knowing you aren’t the old you, you are the new you that is in Christ Jesus! Draw close to God and He will draw close to you!

 
“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

Revelation 21:3-7

I LOVE YOU!