ICEA – “Church at Study”

Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way
of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
(Eph. 4:22-23, NLT)

Can you count the number of times you have been wished a happy new year during the beginning of this year? Have you ever really thought about what a happy new year looks like? For many it would be 365 days filled with things that would fulfill every appetite.  If we were somehow granted many of the things we thought would make us happy, it would…no doubt…be to our detriment.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
(Prov. 14:12)

God has shown us that every 365 days has with it challenges. For many of us adults, each year is not too different from years gone by. There are struggles – things we wish we could change, but, we eventually come to realize that everything will not change just because we make certain yearly resolutions.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
(Rom. 1:17)

If we are honest, there are things we have “commanded” (through sheer determination, year after year) to “be” or “not to be,” only to find those things either evading us or stubbornly persisting in our lives. Frustration often follows on the heels of Sheer determination. A frustrated new year does not look like a happy new year. The two are different. Many of us remember…our days prior to salvation were days we spent in pursuit of pleasures, that eventually led to lives of frustration.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
(Titus 3:3)

Anyone who seeks to please the flesh, saved or unsaved, will face the same conclusion – that happiness is not found in expectation of fleshly grasping something newly pursued after. (How does your new year look so far?)

The harvest is past, the summer is
ended, and we are not saved.
(Jer. 8:20)

On the other hand, happy new years are happy “renewed” years. Most who are truly happy are those who have renewed and continual relationships with God. They don’t necessarily look forward to a certain day or expectation of a coming year to find their satisfaction. They live their lives in the present (Matt 6:25, 34). (Notwithstanding…they are people of faith!) These are the people who have true faith in the precious promises of God. They have claimed those promises that they might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4). They  don’t “nullify” the grace of God by greedily “commanding” premature blessings…not yet intended for them! (James 4:3.)

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
(Prov. 15:15)

“God…please grant us happy days – with things that
truly matter most – family, friends, and relationships!”

According to scripture, being truly happy has little to do with how much a person has or possesses.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of
covetousness for a man’s life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth.
(Luke 12:15)

Let’s not look back on the years and see wasted times and opportunities — along with lives of regret. Let’s allow God’s Spirit to renew our thoughts, attitudes and relationships. With God’s help, we can truly make this year a happy “RE-NEW” year!