As we approach the end of 2012 and prepare to enter into 2013, our thoughts usually scan over the past year and look with hope to the coming year.

What was 2012 like for you? Were there many successes? How about failures? Many of us use emotional memories. This means that our minds remember the emotion that was tied to the event and usually forgets the details. This is good because it means we tend to remember what impacted us the most. It also means that we forget the little things that don’t really matter. On the bad side, it causes us to forget the little things that brought us to that point.

For me, when I look back at the past year, I can see some amazing things that God has brought me through. I am in a place of ministry that I enjoy and I feel God is using me to touch lives for the present and for eternity. I can also see some challenges that are facing me and mistakes that I’ve made. Overall, I feel like I am leaving this year with many positive things to push me into the coming year.

However, I, like many of you, don’t like change. I sat down this morning and looked at the changes in my life and ministry that need to take place. I looked at the relationships that I need to strengthen and some that I need to let go. Some things I’m not so sure of. The unknown is a fearful place for many and I won’t go without kicking and screaming.
Of course, when you look through scripture, there are many references to things being new. Probably one of the best scriptures is found in 2 Corinthians 5.17 NLT,

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life; a new life has begun.”

Friend, as we prepare to enter the new year, know that when you began your new life in Christ, yesterday was gone. Sins gone; guilt gone; fears gone. In the same way that 2012 will be gone, so is your past. You can’t retrieve it. All you can do is learn from it and move on. Don’t dwell on the past. Maybe you’ve heard the song “One Day At A Time” which says:

Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine.

Tomorrow may never come. Yesterday is already gone. All you have left is today.

Another scripture that I saw in a new light today is found in Mark 15. Jesus, preparing for the end of His earthly ministry sat down to the Passover feast with His disciples. As He sat there, He broke bread and declared it to be His body which was broken for us. He then continued to take a cup of wine and declare it to be the blood of the New Covenant, which was shed for us. Jesus said, ““This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” As Jesus was preparing to physically leave this earth in His mortal form, He pronounced something new…a New Covenant. We have been given a new covenant today; one that is not based on human will or flesh. A new covenant that is based solely on the blood of a spotless Lamb, the Savior of my soul. I did not purchase my salvation…it was purchased for me through the blood of the Son of God.

Dear one, what an excitement that builds within me as contemplate the New Year. My sins have been washed away through the blood of Jesus Christ. My past is gone. My future is before my. My life is in His hands. As you watch the ball drop at Time’s Square, watch the past along with your guilts and fears drop too. See this as a new day in Christ for you.

LOOK OUT 2013….HERE I COME!!!!