Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17

There’s something about the beginning of a new year with blank calendars and planners yet to be filled in that inspires hope. Hope that comes with a fresh start. Hope that some of the disappointments and failures from the past year can be set aside or at least learned from.

As I’ve begun to write a few lines in my new daily journal each evening and add birthdays and anniversaries to my planner in anticipation of future celebrations, I’ve been reminded that the Bible, our ultimate source of hope, has a lot to say about new beginnings and fresh starts.

New Creatures

Regeneration begins with God, who promises to give us new hearts and spirits that long to please Him:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Though God immediately counts us righteous, redeemed by the blood of Christ and new creatures whose old natures have been crucified with Him, we won’t be wholly sanctified until God calls us Home. Thus, we’re to strive to put off our old selves, which belong to our former manner of life and are corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

New Goals, New Perspective

Because we’re living in that in-between time, the now and not yet, there will be occasions when the old nature reemerges regardless of our best intentions and staunchest resolutions. When those times occur, instead of self-recrimination, we can turn to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians for encouragement to stay focused on the goal:  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

I’m a goal-setter and a list-maker. Unfortunately, when I look back at a to-do list or a list of goals I set for myself, I’m prone to emphasize the things I haven’t accomplished instead of the ones I have and chastise myself for perceived failures. Satan, the accuser and father of lies, is all too ready to pile on, but when we hear the accusations, we can be sure it isn’t our heavenly Father who’s pronouncing them because:

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:8-14

New Mercies

Undoubtedly, the year ahead will hold a mix of joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, successes and failures, just like every year. But when things don’t go as we hoped or planned, when we disappoint ourselves or others, and they disappoint us, let us remember the steadfast love of the Lord and His mercies that are new every morning and put our hope in Him.

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:21-24

Even though our planners may be blank, we know that God has declared the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), and we can trust that He is always at work moving history to the conclusion He’s ordained, even if we don’t always see or understand His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

 “Remember not the former things,
    nor consider the things of old.
 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19

New Commandment, New Song

As we await the promised and ultimate renewal, we are to be obedient to the new commandment Jesus gave us: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

And we can sing the new song of joy and gratitude to the Lord for our salvation, pointing others to the hope we have in Christ.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40:1-3

New Resolve

So we press on to cast off the old, put on the new, humbly and gratefully rest in the Lord’s steadfast love, and look forward to the day when everything will be made new, including us. No more failures, no more sin, no more disappointments. According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace (2 Peter 3:13-14).

I will endeavor to remember these things as I fill in my planner, work on my to-do lists, and jot nightly notes about God’s goodness in my journal. How about you? Are you looking forward to Jesus’ return when He will make all things new? It is our glorious hope!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 21:1-6).