Looking to God's Grace and Love for a Blessed 2022

As the calendar year for 2021 wanes, and the coming year of 2022 approaches, you know people who are making “New Year’s Resolutions.” It is a common practice for people around the world to say good-bye to the pain, to the disappointments, to the bad times of the past. It is common practice for people to welcome hope for the future. As you look back at 2021, perhaps you see experiences you want to put in your rear view mirror. Perhaps you have hopes and plans for good in the coming year. So, perhaps you too are making New Year’s resolutions for 2022.

However, Christians know the experience of examining our lives on a more regular basis than just at the conclusion of a calendar year. We call this examination “repentance.” One of the Greek words for repentance is a word which means “turning.” Our Lord teaches that the reason for the pain and suffering in this world is the rebellion, the selfishness, and the sin of the human race against their loving Creator and Lord. God calls us Christians to turn from the sin and evil in our own lives. We are called to turn toward God, toward his righteousness, toward His love for and mercy.

For example, when Paul instructs the Christians in Corinth about proper attitudes for receiving the Lord’s Supper he writes, “28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” (1 Corinthians 11:28) As Christians approach the altar of God to receive forgiveness in the bread and wine, in the body and blood of Jesus, they prepare for that gift of grace by self-examination. Christians consider where their lives have sinned against God and where their lives need changing. Christians look at their areas of struggle and failure, and consider the life of faith and of love to which God calls.

Of course, Jesus himself encourages a life of humble repentance with His well-known parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18. Jesus tells the story of two men who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee, a religious leader, bragged to God of his supposed righteousness. But, the tax collector, a known sinner, prays in sorrow concerning his failures, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) Jesus teaches about this humble tax collector, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) Jesus encourages humble repentance for His disciples as they encounter their holy Lord.

The Apostle, John, calls disciples of Jesus to repentance through confession and through trust in God’s faithful mercy. “8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9) To admit our failings is to live in the truth. And, when we confess our sin, God promises that He faithfully acts in mercy to forgive.

So, as a new year approaches, Christians are not unfamiliar with examining the pain and the failure of the past and planning for a better future, a godly future. This is just how Christians live. And, God provides His help and His Spirit for such lives of regular self-examination and repentance. We are taught in Romans 6, “3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. . . 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:3-4, 11) (See also Colossians 2:12-13) You see, God provides the encouragement and the strength to turn from sin and to turn to the goodness of God in Jesus. Through baptism, through faith, we are joined with Jesus in His death for the sin of the world. We die with Jesus to sin! With Jesus, again through baptism and through faith, we rise with our Lord to new life. We not only rise to the hope and the assurance of God’s grace and love in eternity. We also rise to the hope and the assurance of our gracious Lord walking beside us every day of this life. Therefore, through God’s calling and His strength. we put the old behind us, and we walk with God and His love in a future of grace and hope.

Are you making resolutions this year? Is there failure and pain you wish to put behind you? Do you have hope for a better life, a life with God’s love and forgiveness and grace in the future? Perhaps these words from Romans can give you motivation, strength, and direction for 2022 and beyond. “3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. . . 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” A blessed 2022 and beyond in the grace of God through Christ Jesus!

A Child of God, Looking to God’s Grace and Love for a Blessed 2022 – and BEYOND!

Pastor Jonathan