Here we are, just a little over a week into 2018, and maybe already you’re feeling a little like, It’s not so different from 2017. The things you hoped would be different are pretty much the same. The anticipation of a fresh start faded the moment you ate your first cookie, missed your first workout, lost your temper, swore in traffic.
The appeal of New Years’ Day is the hope that things can be better, that they will be better. But New Years also carries the false message is that it’s entirely up to us to make it that way. Your resolutions, no matter how good they are or how well you stick to them, may change your life, but they can’t save your life. Only a Savior can do that.
If we think it’s up to us to set things right by our good actions and our good choices, we’ve forgotten about grace, which is the undeserved favor of God. And if we think things will never be any better, we’ve also forgotten grace, which says we receive the favor of God. Without grace, we’re sunk.
God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10
We’re saved because of grace, the magnificent work of God, which we’re given simply because He loves us. And as part of that salvation, we are made new. Given a fresh start. A new beginning.
Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17
We are created anew, born again, to live an entirely new life. Grace opens the door to all the promise and expectation that we long for when we crave a new beginning. A fresh start brings with it new hope, new expectations that God will bring about all that He has promised. “This expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us” (Romans 5:5). These are not feeble wishes that have no chance of fulfillment. This is confident expectation anchored on God, the Almighty, the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
So if you’re feeling let down, disappointed, hopeless, may I remind you of grace? It’s true that we aren’t yet all that we should be. But it’s also true that we aren’t yet all that we will be. Because there is grace. Grace that’s been freely given, has paid our ransom, has secured our pardon, has set us free, has delivered us into all the newness and fullness of life that God intends and desires for us.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16 ESV