Exhortation, First Sunday After Christmas

We begin a New Year on Tuesday. New Year’s Day is a time for assessment and self-evaluation, for reflecting on the past and looking toward the future. It is also a time of uncertainty.

Amid all the uncertainties, we can be completely sure about two things. We can be sure of change. Neither we nor our world will be the same a year from now. For creatures, and creation, change is one of the constants of life.

But in the midst of change, we can also be sure of one thing of absolute stability: Our God is in His heaven and rules over all, our Father loves us in His Son and has given us His Spirit. He is utterly faithful, and He has promised to be our God in all circumstances.

That means that no matter what challenges you face in the coming year, no matter what changes you have to respond to, you can rely on your Father.

Is there a fire of affliction awaiting you? It will not harm you; God only designs your dross to consume and your gold to refine. Are you going to pass through deep waters? Remember Israel and Jonah. Will the Lord lead you by a viper’s den? He says that a weaned child can play by the hole of the cobra. There may be a cross in your future, but remember what our Father did, and does, for the crucified.

Whatever the New Year brings, it will from your Father, and you can trust Him. Whatever comes, it cannot harm you. When the disciples feared the storm, Jesus rebuked them and called them men of little faith. As the New Year begins, confess your little faith and ask the eternal God to help your unbelief.