HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After a holiday break, we return refreshed, renewed, and refocused. Norma Jean and I were blessed to spend some really quality time with family, especially our two new grandsons, Roy Sharp Thompson and Miles Carter Weliever!

As we reflect on 2014, it has been a year of many firsts, changes and surprises! No doubt 2015 holds in store unknown adventures, as well as exciting opportunities.

By now you probably have both said and heard “Happy New Year” countless times. It is so traditional to exchange such a greeting that we may not think about its significance. Consider these three important points about a HAPPY NEW YEAR:

          (1) We are reminded of the swift passing of time. Another year has come and gone. We are all growing older, and we are a year closer to “the day of the Lord.” The admonition of the Psalmist is well worth considering: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” The exhortation of Paul is also very appropriate: “Be very careful then, now you live–not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

          (2) We recognize the year is new. The old year, 2014, is behind us. It is therefore a good time to put behind us past sins, shortcomings, and failures. There is something about a new year that is fresh, clean and unsoiled. In the words of the poet “selected”:  

So now, there lies before me

A new chapter clean and white.

And I hope to write its pages,

So the plot will turn out right.

 

             (3) We all wish for happiness in the new year. People want to be happy.   We pursue happiness with a passion. But happiness does not come by looking for it. Eric Hoffer correctly stated, “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.” Happiness is a by-product. It is the result of right living, of seeking something greater than one’s own interest.

The wise man wrote, “Whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he” (Prov. 16:20). Put your trust in the Lord. Follow the Word of the Lord. And live for the Lord.

Here’s a simple New Year’s acrostic, to help you think about happiness from a spiritual perspective

Hold fast to your Faith

Assemble weekly with your church Family

Pray every day.

Purify your life from worldly lusts.

Yield not to temptation

 

Never give up!

Examine yourself spiritually.

Walk in love.

 

Yield your will to God’s will.

Enthusiastically live each day for the Lord

Add the Christian graces (2 Peter 1:5-7).

Read your Bible daily. 

These 12 “New Year’s resolutions” will get your year off to a great start! Better yet, personalize your own New Year’s acrostic. There’s plenty of time before the Bowl games begin!

To all of our dear friends and readers of ThePreachersWord, Norma Jean and I sincerely wish for each of you in 2015 a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman