But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24
A new calendar year is nearly upon us. We have just a few days before we celebrate the arrival of a new year. For many watch night services and parties will be the activities of choice to experience the close of one year and the entrance of another. We can give thanks for all the blessings of the past and look forward with great anticipation of the future. This is hopefully a time of reflection and planning about next steps in the various aspects of our lives; our health, our work, our relationships with family and friends and our relationship with the Savior. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit can provide renewal to our heart, mind and soul to prepare for what’s next. We want to be renewed for the coming year with our old ways left behind. Jesus can provide a changed heart and a refreshed lens for new strategies and next steps for thriving in the New Year. I want to thrive in 2014. It starts with creating a God-sized and God-inspired vision for what is possible. With Jesus’ help we can shed old habits, hampering attitudes, and hindering procrastination. We can lay aside weights and seek what the Lord would have us to do. In the coming days, let’s ask the Father for His renewal to permeate our hearts and for His ways to become our ways for thriving in the year to come.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1 ESV
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