A New Year has opened and with it new possibilities. In a special sense the opening of a new year provides, as no other time, a wonderful opportunity for reflection and for planning. No matter the failures of the past the future lies before us ripe with promise.
As I reflected on my past year, I saw clearly places where I dropped the ball. I saw where I fell short of the Lord’s ideal and plan for my life. I saw where I failed to build up His kingdom. Yet in the midst of it all, I saw how the Lord used even those failures for my good. I learned profound lessons that came from my experience. I learned that Romans 8:28, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose,” applies even to our mistakes and mess-ups. If we allow Him to, the Lord will use even those to strengthen us and draw us closer to Him.
Perhaps like me, you see where you failed to cultivate the opportunities that were presented to you. Perhaps you failed to invest your talents wisely and as a result you yielded zero percent in return. But do not panic, if you are reading this that means you are alive. And though it sounds like such a cliché, as long as there is life, there is always hope. The challenge we face is letting go of these past failures, while never losing sight of its lessons, and moving forward. One of the amazing things about God is how He deals with even the chief of sinners, like me and you. It’s marvelous how in mercy He bears long with us. It is this longsuffering quality that allows us opportunities for second, third, and fourth chances. Inasmuch as we might have failed to live up to the trust He has placed in us, He will still take us back. Oh yes, mercy still pleads for sinners. But the reality is that it won’t plead forever (see Genesis 6:3). But while it still pleads, while mercy still knocks at our hearts door we have an opportunity to take advantage of it.
This year, though 12 days old already, affords us a brand new page from which to start again. Ellen G. White said it best when she said “another year of life is now in the past. A new year is opening before us. What will be its record? What will we each inscribe upon its spotless pages?” I don’t know about you but I’m planning through God’s power to write things that will last for eternity. I plan on writing things that will put a smile on my Heavenly Father’s face. I want to pen lines that I will not ashamed to have read in the heavenly courts. As you pen those lines, the below excerpt will prove a blessing.
“The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man—the power of decision, of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as the go; but if we stop here, they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil propensities. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him.
God has given us the power to choice; it is ours to exercise. We cannot change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God’s service. But we choose to serve God, we can give Him our will; then He will work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus our whole nature will be brought under the control of Christ
Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding up the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory…is possible to everyone who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God.” Ministry of Healing, Page 176.
Give God your will! And trust Him to take you to higher heights in Him for 2010.