Timeless Security in a New Year

With all of the uncertainty of today, there is security in placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. God desires that all of His children prosper and be in good health, but He never promises that we will be rich or will never get sick. Happiness is based on happenings. God never promises happiness. The fact is that God will even use things that go badly in this life for our best (Rom 8:28). He can not make that promise to those who are not calling Jesus Lord and Savior. They are on their own. Joy, on the other hand, is a promise to all believers. They can know joy even during trials and troubles as James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." If you truly don't have a relationship with God today, you can do that now and have the only eternal security there is in this world. That security is in having Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (John 6:37, 10:28-29).

January is named after the Roman god Janus. This is the time of year when most people look back at the past year. Still, others are eagerly looking forward to what's ahead. Replaying the past contributes perspective. The past is tied to the present but can sometimes put a drag on the future. Janus is named the god of beginnings and is where the month of January gets its name from. But I must tell you that Janus should be more concerned about looking forward than looking back for there is another God of beginnings but this God is the One and Only True God. Many people make New Year's resolutions only to find that they fade into the days, weeks, and months.

The Apostle Paul stressed looking forward and pressing on to the high prize of our calling. If you're driving down a highway, it can be highly distracting if you continually look back. It can even be fatal. In Colossians 1:28-29, Paul uses the verb form of the noun race which translates "agonizomai" from which agonize comes from. This is a God-given race, one that's designed specifically for you and for me. We do agonize but we never give up. There is not another minute your money can buy so I pray you can redeem the time well and spend it for God's purposes. So shall family, friends, and acquaintances not soon be forgotten. Happy New Year. Now, if I can just remember to write 2012 when writing checks!