Happy New Year! Happy New Year?? What guarantees do we have of that? Is that not the same way that we brought in 2020? How did that work out? Is it a declaration or a wish? We have no guarantees that 2021 will be any better than 2020 so how do we move into this next year with any sense of hope at all?
For some of you here in group #1, you cannot wait to put 2020 behind you. The pandemic has ruined your business, disrupted your family, and negatively impacted your entire life. Perhaps you battled the Covid virus and won the battle. Maybe you have a loved one who was taken from you by that same virus. Maybe you have lost your job and what looked like a promising career has disintegrated before your eyes. Maybe your plans for a vacation or wedding were swept away by the closures and shutdowns. Your church life has been radically changed and things are just not the same. Maybe you now live in fear of catching the virus and passing it on to a loved one and ultimately losing them. 2020 cannot move on fast enough so that you can get back to a normal life, whatever that now is.
For some of you here in group #2, 2020 was not too bad. In fact in many ways, it was pretty good. Maybe you saw a tremendous increase in your business, or perhaps that promotion that you were hoping for came through. Maybe in the midst of this pandemic you welcomed a new little baby into your family. Maybe you were able to get that house or job that you have been wanting, and maybe God spared your life, or the life of a loved one in a miraculous way. For you, 2020 was a pretty good year and you would not mind at all more of the same in 2021.
Depending on which group you find yourself, it might be “HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” for group #2 or “happy new year???” for group #1. How do we as Christians look at the previous year, and then ahead to the new year at the same time regardless of what group we find ourselves in? There was a song that I sang as a child in Sunday School that makes me wonder what I must have been thinking. It goes like this:
I’m inright, outright, upright, downright
Happy all the time
I’m inright, outright, upright, downright
Happy all the time
Since Jesus Christ came in
And cleansed my heart from sin
I’m inright, outright, upright, downright
Happy all the time
Is that true? Was that true? What was I thinking? After all, I was a kid and I really didn’t know any better. Wouldn’t it be cool to be “happy all the time” like I was when I was a kid? You know that people might think that you were weird or something was not right upstairs if you were “happy all the time”? If you are a Christian, there is something common to all of us whether you are in group #1 or group #2 and it is found in that song as well as throughout Scripture. “Since Jesus Christ came in and cleansed my heart from sin.” Did you catch that? You sang it as a child never really knowing the truth that you were singing. Regardless of what group you are in, if you are a Christian, Jesus lives in you and you have been cleansed from the penalty of sin, even though penalties from sin still remain. If there was no sin, there would not be sickness. If there were no sin, there would be no loss. If there were no sin, there would be no death. All of those things bring sadness and pain and hurt and unhappiness. Yet, because of what Jesus did in cleansing my heart from sin, I can be happy all the time, even in the midst of the mess of 2020 or 2021. Do you realize what you have?
As you look back over 2020, what is it that you are looking at? How are you looking at it? I have a friend who is an eye doctor and when you go in to his office he puts my eyes through all kinds of tests. My eyes are dilated, little puffs of air are shot at my eyeball and there are charts to look at. It is when he puts this contraption up to my eyes and asks me which is clearer, “1 or 2” that he is fine-tuning my vision. He is working to be sure that I see things properly. Through what lens are you looking at 2020, “1 or 2”? God has given us His Word to help us see as He sees, through the proper lens if you will. Check out these verses:
“…happy is he who keeps the law.” Proverbs 29:18
“Happy is the man who finds wisdom…” Proverbs 3:13
“…he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.” Proverbs 14:21
“Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” Psalm 144:15
“…whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.” Proverbs 16:20
This would make me tend to think that the lens through which these happy people are looking is the lens that is colored by the sovereign hand of God. People who look back over their lives and see the hand of God in everything, and it is there, are able to trust Him moving forward. There is a quote that I have shared many times that reminds me of how true and constant and faithful the God of the Bible is. “My circumstances do not alter the character of God.” No matter what I might be facing; no matter where I find myself; no matter how far down the wrong path I have gone; the character of God remains the same. The God who saved you from the penalty of sin continues to walk with you through the end of 2020 and straight into 2021 and beyond. Do you trust Him?
My hope and prayer is that each of you will look back on 2020 with gratitude and amazement, regardless of whether you found yourself in group #1 or group #2, and recognize the hand of God everywhere. The danger in all of our lives is to fail to see the hand of God in either of our lives. The result is either a life filled with fear or a life filled with pride and both will destroy you. Once you do this and recognize the hand of God, pray and give Him thanks! Praise Him! Count your many blessings! May your prayer life be filled with gratitude!
Trust God, be thankful always and have a “HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!”