Should
Auld Acquaintance be Forgot,
And Never
Brought to Mind?
Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Luke 21:33
Once you cut through all of the partying and football, New Year’s Eve/Day is an awkward bittersweet holiday. In one sense it can be a time of rejoicing over the accomplishments and blessing that have come our way over the past year. It can also be a time of relief that a particularly bad year is over. It can be a time of sadness when we look back at things that once were but will be no more. It can be a time of anticipation for good things to come. It can be a time of dread and the fearing of worse calamities to come in the future. It can be a time of rebirth and renewal or can be a time of anxiety and doubt.
2014 will be a year to remember in my household. Many positive things happened in the lives of my children. It is important to look back on these blessings with thankfulness in our hearts for God’s good gifts as St. Paul says, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4–5).
For many people 2014 will be a year to remember for the loss of a job or an illness or a death or the loss of a friendship. These are hard crosses to bear but they too can remind us of the fleeting nature of our earthly existence and help us look forward to the salvation that is ours in Christ. The Apostle Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:18–25).
2015 may call for patience and endurance. It will have its own share of difficulties and joys. However, what is important for each of us to remember is that we do not go alone into this new year. We go with Jesus at our side. God has promised that he “will never leave you nor forsake you.”
I pray that you will have a wonderful New Year’s celebration. I enjoy New Year’s Day because it is one of the very few holidays of the year when I don’t have to work (wink). But more than the celebration of New Years, we as Christians can celebrate every day the new life that is ours in Christ. Newness is a characteristic of life with God. We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth because God makes all things new in Christ.
Happy New Year!
Pastor Quardokus
