The Truth Works: Beginning A New Year

“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” (Psalms 65:11)

I wasn’t sure if I should write this article before or after the New Year begins. I decided to do it before the New Year starts. I always look with excitement toward the New Year!

God crowns each year with His goodness! Imagine, if there was no God, what good things would be lost to us. Such a thought is “inconceivable”. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights …” (James 1:17) All things exist and are upheld by the hand of God’s Son, Jesus. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all thing were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:16-17)

The good things of life come from God. For those who walk in His paths, those paths drop with fatness from God’s bountiful hand. What would the holiday just passed have been like as a child, if God had not blessed us with good parents? Holidays of parents are brighter with their children whose faces shine with joy as they open their gifts. Grandparents are comforted to see their grandchildren’s enthusiasm as they open gifts. All the physical blessings we have are from the goodness of God. And to those who are in Christ, they have all spiritual blessings. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

This is the time of year that businesses are taking stock of their inventory for tax purposes to distinguish between the old year and the new. Spiritually speaking, we should take inventory of our lives. If you are not a Christian, you need to examine yourself and discover why you haven’t yet become one. Is it because you are putting the physical things that need to be done in life ahead of putting God first in your life? If you were putting God first in your life, you would have already become His child. Determine now the proper order of priorities in your life. God must be first, then the physical things of life will fall into their proper place. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Peter told the Jews who believed they had crucified God’s Son, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) Paul taught that baptism puts one into Christ. (Galatians 3:26-27)

If you are a Christian already, there is a constant battle to put God first, or otherwise the things of this life will crowd God out of your life. “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” (Luke 8:14) Resolve that God will be first in your life as this New Year begins.

Obey the gospel while you have time. Time means nothing to God since He has all of it. Time is important to us because we have so little of it. (Ephesians 5:15-16)