How many can honestly say that towards the end of December excess didn’t kick in and they convinced themselves that moderation would come back into play for the New Year, or is it just me? Have you heard the saying, ‘New Year, New Me’?
How many times have you written a resolution list that looks a bit like this?
• Join a gym
• Eat healthy
• Spend more time with family
• Quit binging on Netflix
• Go to bed early, etc.
But God has given a promise that we don’t have to have a ‘do-over’ at the beginning of a new year. His compassion and mercy towards us are new every day.
‘Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness’. Lamentations 3:22–23
I also believe that we can have a ‘do-over’, not just every morning but throughout each day. Now I don’t know about you, but I have often given up on a day and even a whole week due to a bad five minutes. Who can’t agree that on occasions they have dragged out something that they really could have done in a few minutes?
The reality of our fragile human state and the world we live in is that there are opportunities all around us to give in to bad moods and negativity. We must watch and pray and look for opportunities in the challenges to see how we can go against the grain and be a light in this dark world. That means combatting hate with love, moving quickly past offence, forgiving others and also forgiving yourself for mistakes and failures.
Not only are we to call on the mercy of God but we are to be merciful. When you know that you know that you know that you have been forgiven much, it will become so much easier to forgive much. Wherever you are and whatever your struggles, call out to Jesus, trusting that His compassion and mercy towards us are new every morning and even minute by minute.
Theresa
Theresa John is an ex-addict, a Christian blogger and she works at Victory Outreach, Manchester.