New Year, New me? In His Word 1-13-2025
Today as we think about the year ahead we sometimes worry
that we should not even bother trying to set goals or plans that will make us
better people because we know we will just fail. If we fail we will feel rotten
about ourselves and start a cycle of depression or anxiety that will trigger
our deeper feelings of inadequacy that will only create a bigger feeling of
condemnation over ourselves.
Stop! God already took care of this year! He knew what we
would walk through and He planned how to provide help for us.
So lets look in the Word of God and see what some of those
plans are.
First, stop condemning yourself for failing to be perfect.
There is no one perfect. Everyone fails sometime.
What then? Are we better than them? Not at all. For we have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: “There is none righteous,
no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
Romans 3:9-11
You see, when we have Christ Jesus in our lives we know that
He has taken away those things that made
us as though we were righteous and created in us a new, clean, heart and mind.
He has washed away the sins that we have commited when we repented. We become
born again at that moment and it is as if we never sinned.
So, what about when we fail after that? Well, if we do fail, slip or sin, we repent
and ask God forgiveness again. The thing is we cannot think we will cheat and
lie and not be caught because our sins will find us out! The Word of God tells
us this. (Numbers 32:23)
It really is all
taken care of from the moment we let Christ in our lives, hearts, minds,
however you say it. We make Him our Lord and Savior when we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and are saved. (Acts 16:31) We belong to Him.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to
Christ Jesus. And because you belong to
him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin
that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the
weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent
his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God
declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for
our sins. He did this so that the just
requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow
our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4
Once in a while we may lie, or complain, or do something God
has said not to. The thing is when we realize we did it we need to repent and
we can do that easily because we do not allow the sin to control us. We can
keep it from controlling us because when we asked Jesus into our lives we
accepted the Holy Spirit to guide us. He will keep us from being controlled by
sin.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are
controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And
remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not
belong to him at all.) And Christ lives
within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives
you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the
dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will
give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Romans
8:8-11
So, we do not have to worry if we fail to complete our goals
and plans for the year ahead, but we need to do our best to obey God’s Word. We
trust Him to guide us and follow His directions. We will want to obey, so it
will be harder to sin, the more we focus on God’s Word and do what it says.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation
to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates,
you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds
of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God. Romans 8:12-14
So, we want to follow the leading
of God via His Spirit in His Word.
That only covers part of the
chapter, so go read all of Romans chapter 8 and check out the links to the rest
of the verses provided above! There is always more to learn and whenever you
think you have it, you need to learn more! That is what I learned from a wise
old Missionary many years ago.