(December 20, 2023) Brian Bell looks ahead…

Across the world there will be large crowds of people ‘watching and revelling in’ the New Year. Perhaps you might not wish to be reminded another year is almost gone, or could it be you may be glad to leave 2023 behind you!

I was among those people to have been born on the first day of January and that makes it a little difficult to forget a new year has begun!

Whatever your personal view about this time of the year, we cannot change the reality, with each day, time is passing and soon we will be in 2024.

So whether you love the New Year celebrations or loath them here are a few simple thoughts about ‘NEW’ (NLT scriptures).

1. A New Beginning
‘…those who become Christians become new persons, they are not the same anymore, for the old life has gone, a new life has begun’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

These words of Paul to the Christian believers speak to us about a new beginning. In scriptural terms it is called ‘born again.’ In our natural born condition we are alienated from God, but when we recognise our sinful condition, repent and place our faith in Jesus we are reconciled and placed in a position of ‘right standing’ before a holy God, the theological term for this is ‘justified.’

My testimony is uncomplicated. From my earliest days of childhood I had been attending church and many other activities that brought me under the sound and influence of God’s word. As I grew, many people looking at me would have considered me a fine young man of Christian character. I may have been obedient to my parents, respectful in general, outwardly clean living, content to be involved in church activities, but as Isaiah 64:6 reminds us ‘When we proudly display our [self… my emphasis] righteous deeds they are but filthy rags.’

I was 15 before I came into a personal commitment of faith. Unlike Paul I did not have a Damascus road experience, it was a simple prayer of faith. The important thing is that God keeps His word as in John 6:37 ‘…those the Father has given me will come to me and I will never reject them.’

My salvation does not rest on this ‘act of faith’ or since that day on any of my weak or often failed efforts trying to work, pray and give my way to a level of performance which God will find acceptable! One of the lessons I learned is that although my salvation comes by grace through faith, growth or maturity in my Christian life only comes through the application of scriptural truth.

My Christian character and conduct are very important but so that they should be an outward demonstration of my salvation, not the way to earn it. I have a new beginning only because Jesus shed His precious blood to make it possible for me to be a new creation.

Let’s dissect Hebrews 12:12-13: ‘So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet, then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame will not stumble and fall but will become strong.’

2. A New Perspective
‘So take a new grip with your tired hands.’

If you have ever driven a car over long distances then like me you may have found it necessary to relieve tired hands and to change your grip.

Sometimes in daily life – and also in church life – we need to take a new grip. This is not the abandonment of sound scriptural values, but we should not shy away from the need to review what we are doing, how we are doing it and why we are doing it. Paul is a great example: writing to the Philippians he says‘I keep working … I am still not all I should be … but I am focusing all my energies… forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead’ (Philippians 3:13).

3. A New Stability 
‘… stand firm on your shaky legs.’

For some 30 years I have been privileged to be a volunteer with a small Christian charity working alongside people with various disabilities. While this meant at times we provided a measure of stability for those whose legs would not fully support them, it was an opportunity to help them find that stability which comes from scripture.

So many of these dear folk were weak in their legs, but strong in spirit because of the stability they found in God’s word.

4. A New Direction 
‘Mark out a straight path for your feet.’

Notice it is a ‘straight path’ and if like me you have been living for 70 decades or more, then very likely the direction of your life, however hard you have tried, has not always been in a straight line.

I see the context of ‘straight path’ as used in this verse as meaning consistent in trying to make progress through life. In Hebrews 12:1 the writer says, ‘strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.’

As we try to live out the Christian life, we will find opposition. The ‘besetting sin’ with which the enemy may seek to hinder your progress is not likely to be the same as that which he brings against me. Know and mark well your path!

5. A New Leadership
‘Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame will not stumble and fall but will become strong.’

People in general look to ‘follow the leader’ (whether political or ecclesiastical) and this is certainly not because leaders are infallible – as you may have discovered!

Notice the nature of the followers – weak and lame, prone to stumble – and the purpose of the leader – to help them become strong. I thank God for the many leaders He has used in my life whose influence helped me to become strong during my working life but also in my Christian walk.

6. A New Future
All of us look to and make reasonable plans for the future. This is God given, because we know God also makes good preparation, as Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us ‘I know the plans I have for you.’

The mistake I have sometimes made – and anyone of us can make – is to get too caught up in ourselves and give God a lesser role in our future.

Scripturally, we know God had plans to give us a new future, to deal with the sinfulness of man and reconcile us to Himself (as in Romans 5:8, ‘sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners’).

While a leap year gives us an extra day of life, God gives us an everlasting eternity. Now I must be honest, even after 55 years as a Christian believer, I cannot say I really fully grasp or understand eternity, it is outside my time limited existence and experience. So that is why I must allow faith to take precedence.

Scripture gives us glimpses of the believer’s future, for example 1 Corinthians 2:9 ‘… no eye has seen nor ear heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.’

In John 14 Jesus shared these well-known words with his first disciples ‘I am going to prepare a place for you… when everything is ready I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am.’

Be encouraged! as we enter 2024 we can say with the song writer Joseph Hart –
‘How good is the God we adore
Our faithful unchangeable friend,
His love is as great as His power
And knows neither measure nor end.
For Christ is the first and the last,
His Spirit will guide us safe home,
We’ll praise Him for all that is past
And trust Him for all that’s to come.’

If you are reading these thoughts, wherever you are in the world, keep trusting and may you know much of the Lord’s blessing in 2024.

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Brian Bell is a diaconate member, Christ Church (Congregational) Abbots Cross, Northern Ireland, and a volunteer with Disabled Christians Fellowship Ireland. Brian describes himself as ‘grateful for the privilege and opportunity given me to serve my Lord.’
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