Can You Conceive Of A Better Blessing Than Jesus For The New Year?
Good Morning Friends,
Today we explore the blessings of our family of faith as heirs to the promise as we look forward to the new year. We have lots of questions about what will happen. Thankfully we have been adopted by God and have the hope of a new year filled with opportunity. It does not get much better than that. Can You Conceive Of A Better Blessing Than Faith In Jesus For The New Year?
Scripture: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
Genesis 12:2 (NRSV)
GooGood Morning Friends,The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6:22-27 (NRSV)
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Galatians 4:4-7 (NRSV)
So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luke 2:16-21 (NRSV)
Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.
Genesis 46:3 (NRSV)
Message: It is the time of year when people take a year-end inventory and judge how they have done financially. It is also a time of the year when we commit to being more productive relationally. Some use it as a time to make peace with the past and others to add something new to their lives. But maybe it would not hurt us to be more like a child of God this new year and happy enough to realize that we do not know what tomorrow is going to bring, much less a full year. So, we must have faith that it will work out. But what I do know is that we have been given the greatest of opportunities to live out our faith with a bold expression of love, for we have been adopted by God. So, today is the first day of the new year but the celebration of Christmas is to endure in our hearts. The Spirit is to live on. Treasure it in your hearts as Mary. Dream on with Joseph to nurture the greatest gift ever into adulthood. Conceive of a relationship with God that honors the families of God. Friends, God has a plan and you are in it. A family reunion is being prepared by God. And just as God planted the Old Testament Joseph in Egypt to prepare for the survival of his family so too the New Testament Joseph echoes this memory as God has planted Jesus on earth to prepare us all for the greatest reunion of all.
Pray we resolve to live victoriously. Pray we resolve to never to waste a moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way we can. Pray we be kind to one another. Pray we never plot revenge. Pray we be unafraid to live as if each hour of the day was our last. Pray we realize that indeed God does make all things brand new. Pray we have a happy, prosperous and faithful new year.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 