Happy New Year, Dearest Friends,
A good passage of Scripture to read at the start of a new year is found near the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-29. It’s a simple little story about two men who were building houses. It’s safe to say they had no way of knowing the precise nature of the test to which their houses would be subjected; would it be fire, earthquake, or flood? But one of them knew this much: There are certain principles which are inherent in good construction. Adhering to these principles gave him a better-than-even chance at survival, no matter what happened.
Now, the lesson of the parable of two builders is so incredibly simple that we often miss it. While we cannot fully describe in detail everything that may happen in 2024, it’s a safe bet that certain principles are going to prevail under any circumstance. So, what I want to suggest is to remember something that will help you face whatever may come your way.
It helps to have a stabilizing faith.
A book I once read had this line as the introduction to one of the chapters: “This is not a bad world to live in once you get used to being nervous.” Now, that might be funny if it wasn’t so true! But I’m convinced that if you want to survive with your sanity, you have to find some way to take the bumps without coming apart. And it’s too late to prepare for the bumps when you hit them. You do that ahead of time.
I can say with some degree of surety that I have attended church probably as much as anyone I know. My parents made sure we were going to be there every Sunday. They knew they couldn’t supply by themselves the spiritual resources we needed to make it through life. I’ll have to admit that part of the time I went under protest. But I’ve discovered that some things were happening in my heart and soul back then that I didn’t know were happening. Some principles were fixed in my mind and heart which the intervening years haven’t shaken.
I came to believe that this is God’s world and that ultimately, God’s plan and purpose will prevail. I learned that God intended that all people live in harmony and in peace with one another, and to work against that principle is to fight for a lost cause. I learned that a wrong road always leads to a wrong destination. I also came to believe that if you take the right road, somewhere, sometime, you come out at the right place. And even though I learned those things when I was younger, I have found that they still apply.
If you can move through the year 2024 with those convictions, I am convinced that your life will be immeasurably brighter. We may still get nervous; who doesn’t when you read the national or world news? But what we find is that our nervousness is not despair. A new year is always an occasion for us to affirm again our faith in God. There is hope, and there is a future, and it will be good.
In the promise of the new year,
Bruce Jones,
Pastor Imagine Church
