Looking Back, Looking Forward, Starting Fresh

As we arrive at a new year, 2009, it is always interesting to see how different people approach a new year. I have noticed that the news is filled with “year in review” video articles. We look back at the good news, bad news, regretful news, and even some funny news. It is all very entertaining.

Some of us feel a need to examine the past before we are ready to take on the future. We cannot change the mistakes of the past. But, we can learn from the past. We cannot live on the victories of the past. But, we can use the past as a guide for new goals for a better future.

God gave His people an interesting way to begin a new year. On the Jewish calendar the New Year begins in the fall, (Rosh Hashanah), and is followed ten days later by the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur). These ten days are called the Days of Repentance. These were days when they remember sins and ask forgiveness of anyone they have wronged the previous year. Then on the last day, the Day of Atonement, all is forgiven. In the days of the Temple the High priest would enter the Holy of Holies, the only time he would enter during the year, and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat for forgiveness of all sins, remembered and forgotten. Everyone began the New Year with a clean slate with God, and with each other.

What an awesome thought? We can start the New Year fresh with a whole new perspective, a new plan, and with nothing from the past holding us back. The world may have other ideas. God encourages new starts and gives us a way to make it happen.

Paul put it this way: “…forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

Happy New Year
Bro. Robin Cowin

“For God so loved the world…”

Christmas is expensive. But, do we ever stop to think how expensive? We think about our own expenses. Gifts for everyone, trips to the store, company coming who need to be fed and accommodated, decorations, Christmas parties, and so on, and it all costs money. We are all too familiar with the cost of Christmas to ourselves.

Christmas is more expensive than we can imagine. Christmas is not just about our gifts. Christmas is about one gift, the one gift that began it all. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. Christmas is the promise of salvation in a baby that was born to die for our sins. Christmas demonstrates how valuable God considers us. We are worth the life of God’s Son.

When you give gifts do you base your gift on how important that person is to you? Do the people who are more important to you get better presents? Do we measure value by expense? If so, then God has us all beat when it comes to giving. When God considered what to give us all as a gift from Himself He brought out the most valuable gift God Himself could offer. We think of it as the gift of eternal life, and so it is. God thinks of it as the gift of His Son.

Christmas truly is a time of giving and receiving gifts. Have you received the gift God has for you, the gift of Christmas itself, the gift of Jesus?

Merry Christmas

Robin and Joyce Cowin
And the Cowin Family