Word of the Week - “Everything New” in 2025
"He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” - Revelation 21:5
As we begin 2025, we have the opportunity to start fresh and begin a “New” chapter of our lives, especially in our walk of faith. I love this about God and our faith as Christians; as foundational as God is in the fact that He has been around since the beginning of time, He is the same today as He was in the beginning, but He is a God who loves to make everything New. He desires for us to be born anew in His spirit so that we can experience the abundant life He promises us. He also desires for us to be renewed and refreshed so we can continue to experience the fresh life of God and have the capacity to minister this hope to others. In the Spirit of God there is always life and Newness and He calls us to pursue New things in Christ so we can flourish and rejoice in this truth.
New Life in Christ, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 The New life in Christ, which is the abundant life that He speaks about in John 10:10, comes to us when we surrender our hearts and lives to Christ and are born afresh of His spirit. In order to experience the New things of God, we have to get ourselves out of the way and allow Him to do His work in each of us. This is where salvation and New life begins, and we literally become New in Christ. I experienced this at the age of 33 and literally it changed the way I see God, myself, and the world; I have not been the same since. I was given a New identity in Christ, and it awakened in me a New perspective that has truly been the biggest blessing of my life and made me a New person with New priorities, values, interest, disciplines, hopes, and dreams.
New daily perspective, disciplines and rhythms, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 The truth is that no matter how much we love God, life has a way of taking a toll on us as the years pass and we experience the challenges, pain and disappointments that we will all experience since we live in a fallen and broken sin filled world. According to this passage in God’s word, the key to living a healthy life is that we allow God to renew us each day by connecting to the vine of Christ (John 15:5), which provides the sustenance that we need to stay strong and faithful within our inner spirit man. This is what gives us the strength to press on through the challenges of life with strength, faith, and hope in love. To maintain a healthy perspective, we must have daily disciplines and rhythms that keep us in connection with the Lord. Investing focused time each day with the Lord by receiving guidance and instruction from Him (reading His word), telling Him how much we love Him while gaining love and encouragement from Him (praise and worship), and talking with Him about life and our challenges (prayer). These are some of the basic disciplines and rhythms of our faith that are key to having intimacy with the Lord and experiencing New things in Christ.
As we begin this New Year, I pray we will take inventory and make adjustments to our lives so we can experience the Newness and Goodness of God. My friend John Maxwell says “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in your daily routine” Like any relationship, our relationship with the Lord is something that requires daily focus and attention. Since it is the most important relationship in our lives, I would submit that it requires the most focus and attention.
I pray you experience God in a New and Fresh way in 2025…