Theology & Worldview

Bible Spotlight: New Year, Same God

PSA: if you haven’t noticed, it’s almost 2022. Personally, this year will hold many changes, multiple transitions, and if I know myself at all, great excitement, fear, nerves, and anxiety. I’ll be leaving home and attending school. I’ll be turning 18, a legal adult. It seems like yesterday I was yearning to grow up faster, and here I am marveling at the speed at which time flew by. Four years seemed like forever to the shell of myself that freshman me was. Days appeared to never end, as they do in the face of mountains of work. My morals were shaking, the foundation I stood upon threatening to crumble as I faced high school. I was wavering, swaying in the newness, and toppling over as wave after wave hit the front. This struggle was not confined to freshman year. In fact, in all my senioritis-filled glory, I have fallen and tripped and stumbled. And I have no doubt that I will continue to do so in this next year.

Something else about me: I am a devoted list maker. Something is wrong if I don’t have a running list. Self-admittedly, my letter board, cork board, whiteboard, and goals plastered to my bedroom walls sometimes overwhelms me. Not once do I walk in and am not forced to confront something that past me placed there or wrote there as a reminder as the life I want to live. My list of goals, which I keep taped to the side of my nightstand, stares back at me each time I hit snooze. It beckons me to arise and begin the day, seeking the life I want to live. Depending on the week, the days can seem to blur together in a frenzied chaos, but other days, they drag on, as my emotions succumb to the anxiety of the to-dos.

Though I often wish I was a spontaneous person, that I could find greater contentment within the little things, or feel put together without my lists, which are really just brain-dumps, I still gravitate towards having outlined goals. This year, however, it’s less about what I want to do, but rather who I am and the God who calls me His. It’s about recognizing that I, in all my brokenness and imperfection, still am a child of The King. But in the moments when I forget or doubt this fact, or feel distant from the Lord, I will recount the following two passages.

Hebrews 13:6-8 (NIV) provides encouragement, saying: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Isaiah 40:6-8 (NIV) reads, “A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I say, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass wither and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.’”

As these passages say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” and “the word of our God endures forever.” Forever is a strong word, one that is difficult to truly understand, or grasp. In our eyes, everything is temporary. Even the things that we think will last, such as relationships or a version of ourselves, sometimes fade. Connections lessen, coming in and out of focus. Just as dreams and plans shift, so can our love. But there is a beautiful consistency to be found in the Lord. Just as He walked this same earth that we now do, comforting the needy, the poor in spirit, and the sick, He still resides over our very beings with an everlasting, enriching truth in His word. And in the same way that He has a place in our lives, He will have a place in the lives of future generations until His glorious return.

So this year, join me in focusing on Him. Join me in casting my cares and anxieties on Him, and keeping my gaze heavenward. Join me in working not for the riches of the world, but for an impact in eternity. Join me in being absolutely and gratefully stunned by His faithfulness and His promise of forever. Join me, in this new year, in resolving to worship our same, everlasting God.

 

Pic Credits: Unsplash.com

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