A new year excites us as it is filled with endless possibilities. It is like a blank page ready for an exciting new story to fill its pages.
It always amuses me to hear stories of new year’s resolutions and wondering if they are ever kept for the entire year. New Year goals, words, resolutions are all positive things to do but are they truly lasting?
We humans are funny creatures, always drawn to the new and shiny things. We like new clothes, new cars, new phones, new ‘stuff’.
We can often have the mentality of ‘out with the old, in with the new.’
I know at the start of a new year I have a massive spring clean of our house. I want to start afresh and pass on things we no longer need, have outgrown, or have no use for anymore.
The things I talk of are of course earthly things, but I think deep down we are craving new life that truly satisfies, that lasts and fulfills our entire being. New life that won’t lose its shine or sparkle.
New Life
In the spiritual part of our being, I believe we are also drawn to the new.
If we have accepted Christ, we are new creations, the old life is gone, and a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5 verse 17)
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our lives are truly transformed. We begin to see things differently, we have new ways of living, we have new values and definitions, we see life through a new lens.
Everlasting life
In 1 John 2, John talks about not loving the world or the things it offers us as the world offers only cravings for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.
This world is fading away along with everything people crave.
…you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. if you do, you will remain in fellowship with the son and with the father. And in this fellowship, we enjoy the eternal life he promised us (1 John 2 verse 24–25 NIV).
New Year, New Life!
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine, and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say. (Luke 5 verses 38–39)
This is one of the parables Jesus spoke of to explain the difference between the old and new. David C. Grabbe from bibletools.org explains
In the example, the new wine is expansive. The fermentation process produces a great deal of pressure. An old and brittle wineskin will not be able to withstand the increasing stress, and it will burst. The wineskin is a type of vessel. Throughout scripture, vessels are symbols for people.
… if we take the expansive and dynamic new wine, and we attempt to put that into the old life, we can be sure that we will have a disaster on our hands.
Our old lives, our old ways, are entirely incompatible with the new wine. The new wine requires change, expansion, and steady improvement, while in the old life there was no real desire or ability to change.
I wonder what area of your life he wants to expand in you this year?
Maybe it’s taking off some heavy backpacks of worry you’ve been carrying around for too long and he wants you to place them at his feet.
Maybe it’s a new mindset he wants to develop in you.
For me I feel he wants me to rest and trust in him.
I pray 2022 is a rich year of walking with Christ, of new revelation and true freedom that can only be found in him.
Jo Fuller lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast with her husband, son and daughter. Jo is a teacher with an education in journalism and early childhood who loves to spend time with her family and enjoys reading and writing whenever she can.