New Year. New Hope. New Life.

Matthew 9:17

"Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Well, here we are! Another year passes and new year begins! Happy New Year is on the lips of most people you meet this week. The week prior, we may have occasionally let a "Merry Christmas" slip through our mouths almost ashamedly. But "Happy New Year" seems more palatable.

But what about this New Year? What will it bring? Many may recite and compose a list of resolutions they wish to make during the new year. Sadly, most resolutions won't come to pass, because people get easily distracted, bored or lazy, or a combination of all three.

Instead, we try to refit the past year into the new year, as if nothing has changed. We go about our lives doing exactly the same thing we did last year, regardless how many resolutions we dream up.

Jesus said we cannot continue to live a life under God's grace in our old sinful self. He said it's like putting new wine in an old wineskin. After a while, the new wine will soak through the old skin and it will eventually burst.

If you are making a resolution this new year, may I strongly suggest and urge you, that if you are going to continue to live in the old wineskin, without God, please think about the consequences of that decision. It ought to strike fear in your heart.

But if you decide today that this new year will bring about a new hope, and a new life, because you are repentant and confess Christ to be Lord over your life, you will find the new year to be in stark contrast from last year.

Paul said, "And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." -- Romans 13:11

We may not know, and never know what this new year will bring, but we can trust in God that He definitely knows, because He is all knowing.

The question is, do you know Him, and does He know you? I pray you are facing this new year by placing your faith and trust in Jesus, who gave His life so you can be saved from the wrath of God that is yet to come to all who reject Him.

May God bless you this new year and shed His grace on you.

Your servant in Christ, Pastor Tom