Last Sunday was New Years Day. Did you make any New Years resolutions? I did not. How do you feel when you fail to be successful with a resolution? I feel like a failure. Have you thought about trying a daily renewal? I try to make resolutions on a daily basis. I try to renew myself every day. Let me share with you about being renewed and how it brings me hope.
I have found that the Bible talks a lot about renewal. The first thing I found to be helpful was when I became a Christian that I became a new person and my old life has passed away. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that I am new. It is not by my own works.
However, I believe that I must participate in my own renewal the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (ESV) I think this is a daily activity as Jesus Christ said, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 (ESV) The Prophet Jerimiah I believe also saw the need for a daily renewal. He says in Lamentations 3:22-24, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (ESV)
I also have found that I must ask God for help in my renewal. One of my favorite Psalm by King David speaks to this. After David’s sin with Bathsheba, he went to God in a great prayer in Psalms 51. In David recognized that because of his sin something needed to change, in verse 10 David says,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.” (ESV)
I have just touched the surface of what the Bible says about renewal. But I am out of time. I have found hope in these three things that I have shared. I have hope because I have been made new. I have hope because my mind is being renewed daily. I have hope because after I have sinned God renews in me a right spirit.
I pray you will join me in being renewed every morning. Trust God that He will renew us and do not try to renew ourselves. Know that God has something new every morning for us. It is these things that give us hope. Remember from past blogs that it is by knowing God that we have hope. The relationship with God through Jesus brings us hope in the present and the future. I would also encourage you to seek Jesus for He is the only opportunity there is to have eternal life. This is to me the greatest source of hope. In doing so, I believe we will have hope and joy during our everyday lives. Understanding that Jesus Christ allows us to access eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (ESV) This will allow us to have hope. At the same time understanding you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this will bring you the greatest hope. Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
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You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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