Devotion for the Week...
Happy New Year to you! I hope you've had time with family and friends these past couple of weeks and that you've enjoyed rest and good food, too.
It's time to tackle a new year, but this is one that has a lot of us feeling mixed emotions. There's the excitement over the new start and hope that 2022 will be better than the last two years have been, but also worry that it's going to look more like its predecessors than we would like. Not to mention the weariness we're all feeling. That weariness and worry are making it hard for some to find the excitement they usually feel about the start of a new year, which is perfectly understandable. If that's where you are today, know that you are not alone and that your feelings are valid.
There's an odd adage I always think of around this time of year, that says we should start as we intend to go on. Because of that adage, I like to fill the first few days of the year with good things like exercise, family time, sewing and reading. Those are all things I hope will be priorities during the year as a whole and it feels good to start the year as I intend to go on.
In Colossians, Paul wrote, "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand" (Colossians 3:1). That feels like a 'begin as you intend to go on' kind of thought, doesn't it? It's as if Paul is saying that since we have started this new life in Christ, we should start right away to think differently, focusing our thoughts on the realities of heaven.
When Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross (John 19:30), He really meant that it is completely finished. The price of our salvation is paid in full and we don't need to do anything else to earn it. Not only that, but Jesus doesn't have to do anything else, either. This is the reality of heaven and it is symbolized by Him sitting in the place of honour. He can sit down because His work is finished.
What a great message!
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