The New Year is a great time for a fresh start, isn’t it. So we make a resolution – maybe a whole list of them. One of the reasons for making New Year’s resolutions may be to deal with last year’s mistakes. But, as we know all too well, New Year’s resolutions are so hard to keep because old habits are so hard to break!
The reason old habits are so hard to break is because so often we deal with the symptoms rather than the root problem. And the root problem is sin in our lives – it is disobedience toward the God who created us and gave us life to honor Him. Until we deal with our relationship with God, our lives will not have the richness God intended for us to experience.
The even harsher reality, though, is this: while many people have come to this same conclusion, they all have experienced only frustration and uncertainty trying to fix this problem on their own.
2,000 years ago a Jew named John – called “the Baptizer” – pointed people to One who claimed He could deal with this harshest of human realities by Himself becoming our Substitute before God. This was Jesus that John pointed the people to; and he called Him “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” What John meant was that Jesus, the Son of God, would be everything we could never be, and do everything we could never do. So that you and I might have forgiveness and peace with God, and the power to deal with sin and its affect on our lives.
One suggestion for a New Year’s resolution: Get to know Jesus better through His Word, the Bible, and His people. And may you have a Happy New Year in Jesus!
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29