He is Making us NEW ~ Happy New Year! by Katie Taylor
While watching the Times Square coverage of New Year’s Eve last night, I got very excited about what bringing in a New Year means. We watched clips of the New Year being celebrated all over the world, from Australia to New York, fireworks everywhere, and every ball dropping had the number 2016 on it. It reminded me that Jesus is our KING. That every time we say the year, it is based on His life.
All of history and our dates revolve around someone born in a manger who died on a cross, a servant king. AMAZING! Think of all the powerful people in history, but this one man is the reason the entire world had the numbers 2016 in their celebrations last night. The most important people in history have dates on their tombstones that revolve around Jesus. He existed before time, He offers us eternal life beyond time and He is the central measuring point of our time. This is someone who was born in a stable, whose birth was announced to lowly outcasts in a field, who was raised in a carpenter’s home and spent His days with fishermen. It defies all logic in the most brilliant way!
To see so many people celebrating all over the world with hope and anticipation of what a clean slate brings makes me appreciate how much we have in common despite our cultural differences. Maybe New Year’s is an excuse for people to have a party. But on a deeper level, people get FIRED UP for a new year because we are MADE FOR JESUS. We are designed to desire a FRESH START, A CLEAN SLATE, and a NEW CHANCE. We (all races, all nations) love the hope a new year brings because ultimately we desire what Jesus offers; NEW LIFE and transformation. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come.” (2nd Corinthians 5:17).
The Greek word “new” that Paul uses is “kainos.” It appears over 40 times in the New Testament and means “new in form and substance, recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn, of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon and unheard of.”
The word tells us that we are people who Christ is making new, that He has given us a new heart and put a new spirit in us, that we have been born into a new family, that we are members of a new covenant and that one day we will have new bodies, a new name and will live in a new city. “Behold I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). How is this possible? Through the love of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.
So, Happy New Year from OurCityOnAHill! We pray the newness Christ offers infuses your 2016. And that His light sparks a new fire in you. Praise Jesus for a new year, new life and life to the full!
To celebrate this newness, we will be featuring local lives that Christ has made new during the month of January. These are people who live in our city who are walking testaments that His grace has the power to transform right here and now. We pray these stories offer you hope. We pray that you share them with others. Please check out these stories each Friday in January. And for today as you begin your New Year, we hope you enjoy the amazing stories already told. Click here!
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