It is a comfort that every New Year’s Day, we have the opportunity to declare our New Year resolutions. To be sure, we hardly keep our resolutions beyond the second week of the year, yet we still hope for success every time. That hope keeps us indulging in this futile exercise, even if we only use it as a marker for failure. Everyone knows New Year resolutions are sweet but often unattainable. That is the unfortunate reality.
But what if we really had the opportunity to make positive, transformative changes of which we could be proud? Would that not be something to embrace?
I am happy to inform you that you do indeed have this opportunity – not only to change a few bad habits, but to change the entire course of your life. It is a change that can give you a whole new existence, where even your most dastardly deeds are wiped off the slate, allowing a truly new beginning to become your reality.
2 Corinthians 5:17 makes this bold assertion and promise:
“…If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
What does this really mean?
As Nicodemus famously asked Jesus: can we truly be reborn after we have come out of our mothers’ wombs? The answer is contained in John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God…”
There is no wrong act or sin that cannot be forgiven when you embrace the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as payment for your sin. Believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and surrendering to Him as Lord is the beginning of a new life. Just as our physical lives begin at birth, this new life ushers us into a new reality: citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
In this spiritual Kingdom, you belong to the light. God is your Father; Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord; and the Spirit of God is your Helper, who comes alongside you to help you live in a manner pleasing to God.
This new life is a mystery and a gift, made possible because the price of your sin was paid by Jesus. It gives you a new identity: Child of God. It also offers a life where all things are possible, because nothing is impossible with God. Yes, a new nature is possible – one that chooses right living over sinful choices, that loves God and man, and that avoids the deliberate wrongdoings of the past.
2026 is here! It is a new year and a new beginning. The power to change is embedded in your decision to embrace Jesus Christ. Does the thought of relinquishing control scare you? You might wonder: Is it irresponsible to give up control? Will God ask me to give up my most cherished pleasures or friends? Will He alter my life until it is unrecognizable? These are real concerns and valid fears. But know this: God, who created you, is good. He does not destroy what He has made and fought for. He offers grace, not judgment; help, not condemnation.
To be sure, sin may carry consequences, and they do not go away because of the new life Jesus Christ offers you as a child of God. But here is the difference: whereas before you bore the weight of those consequences alone, you now bear them with the help of God Himself, as the Holy Spirit helps you. God’s church is universal, and His people are everywhere, though you may not know it. Take that first step. You will find resources and fellowship you never knew existed as you seek Him.
God gives the assurance that the decision will open you up to God’s plans to give you a good meaningful life. He is right there with the tools for the real change you seek. As Ephesians 2:10 promises: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
All He requires is for you to want Him in your life and for you to ask Him. It is your call.
May I wish you a happy 2026, and a Happy New You as you make that call!
