Skip to main content

New Year Of Hope?

"This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.""  Jeremiah 17:5-6 (NLT)

Setting aside any potential New Year's resolutions we could make for a moment, what if we were to take a look at the underlying hope that we might be basing our lives on in the coming year. I think we do well to consider a personal resolution to get our core reliance figured out and maintain it continually if we're to have any true, underlying, undeniable, hope going forward. This because I believe that if we get that right, any righteous resolutions that we might make after, in agreement with Christ's heart and spirit, have a far better chance of succeeding and giving life to our own heart and spirit -filling our lives with the confidence, contentment and joy that we seek. There's no misunderstanding what the Lord is saying in the verses above or in the verses below. It's on us to take Him seriously and into every part of our lives on a continual basis if we desire to have true hope. 

“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)

Don't trust those who tell you to simply "follow your heart". The reasons should once again come clear in the succeeding verse...

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT)

There are definite reasons that we should be continually reminding ourselves of the wisdom and directions for success that our God gives us in scripture. He made sure that they're laid out for us to follow. In this case, resolving to pay attention to just these few verses will begin to render abundant blessings in the coming New Year - blessing far more impacting and abundant than any other "New Years resolutions" we might make. The world's wisdom is all around us and is constantly seeking to be thrust in our face, but true wisdom comes from the true Author of wisdom. And if we want to possess it in order to truly succeed, in life impacting ways, we must seek it out in what God has already told us and apply it with intention. Our hope for the new year needs to be based on the Eternal Hope of mankind if we really want to find ourselves blessed- not some traditional frail human declarations. Even what we might declare to do in those resolutions should be based on "if The Lord is willing".

"What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”" James 4:15 (NLT)

The fruit of wisdom and direction for righteous and successful living abounds in what our God's already made available - in context, but it's up to us to reach out and take it. If we're to have true hope all through the next year and all of our lives, we know where to find it.



"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it."  Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This "Christ"mas...

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:8-14 (NKJ) As "Christ"mas approaches it usually finds me refreshing my knowledge and understanding of what I believe that it is that we as "Christ"ians should be celebrating in our observation of the event of Christ's birth. I do this in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

If I Worry At All...

For the last year I've been engaged in a writing project that requires me to answer a series of questions posed over the fifty two weeks of the year. My answer to the last question that I chose to answer is one that I decided to share because it's always on my heart and mind... What do you worry about? I know that worrying itself changes nothing but there are some things that cause me deep worry. And of those particular things, there are none that I have the power to change on my own, but they are instead those that I have to appeal to Christ’s mercy to intercede. I have deep worry for the souls of all of my loved ones because I know that despite all that we might find concern for in our passing through of this world, there’s only one account that will, for all time, require an answer from all of us. That response, having already been made while we journeyed here, will leave us without further opportunity to answer. Our choice, made in this current life, will leave us either pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Observance And Observing True Reality...

As Easter approaches, I begin once again considering how our God sees our observance of an occasion as I always do and also what He might truly desire of us in observance above any of our trivial, man inspired traditions . What I come away with in firm conviction is the understanding that the most trivial of my sins, the least of my crimes against God, had the power to forever damn me in His judgment of me and send me into unending torment. And that knowing this one thing in truth and as reality, is key to my correct posture before God in honor of His purpose in the event. That key being the horror of knowing that the price of my very least sin was the shedding of my Christ Jesus' blood and His horrible suffering, because the reality of this brings the deep rending of my heart in awe and gratitude and it makes possible my true joy at the relief of my sentence because of what He has done. I believe this is a part of what God would desire from us in observance of Christ's death a...
Post a Comment
Read more