Have a Joy-full New Year

As the new year approaches, I was just reflecting on a few things. A lot of the time, New Year’s is always surrounded by talk of resolutions and hopes for the year ahead. There’s a lot of ideas put forward like “if I just go to the gym, my life would be happier,” or “if I just do this or that I would feel better about my circumstances.” But the message for a Christian to take into consideration is way more hopeful than that, because what we can behold, what we can stand upon as a firm foundation, is that we have a joy that will never waver. Extending a bit from the idea that I had talked about in a previous blog, we have a great source of joy - not the weightlessness and rootlessness of happiness - because of the surety of Christ’s work. But as the New Year approaches I just wanted to remind you and me and whoever may read these words about this amazing truth.

See, we were reading through Colossians the other night as a family and this topic came up. It was in Colossians chapter one and the words were speaking about who Christ is and we were going through all of those beautiful points and it got into this discussion of joy - that as Christians we know this bedrock to stand upon and not the shifting sand of happiness that rests in experiences and changing environments. As the previous post talked about, we were not promised happiness, but we were promised joy - a joy rooted in the certainty and sufficiency of Christ’s work on the cross that we have been the receivers of from the Godhead. Yes, we will experience hardships in this world. Yes, there will be ups and downs. But regardless of those circumstances, we can behold these truths and have endless wells of joy and wonder to draw from. And it is really amazing if you sit down and consider it all:

The Creator orchestrated all the details of history to ensure His people see His glory in the cross.

We were dead and He opened our eyes. He made us alive because a dead person cannot do that on their own.

We were born again spiritually. This was His work because no baby can cause themselves to be born on their own.

Christ lived the life we couldn’t live and died in our place to be our true propitiation and to make atonement for our sin.

He brought His blood before the Father as an offering for our treasonous, man-worshipping ways and it was sufficient - His resurrection speaks of this sufficiency.

At the cost of Jesus’ blood we know grace: grace of being an exclusive Bride, grace of being awakened to life, grace of conviction, grace of sanctification.

By His work we are made new. It is certain that the branches attached to the Vine will be changed and transformed. We are saved to be sanctified. It will happen.

I could go on and on and on.

The Bible says that our being Christians was “not our own doing” and that it is “a gift of God” - why? “So that no one may boast.” We were deserving of condemnation, we were deserving of death for the horridness of our sin (that we didn’t want Him to be God and that we wanted to be god, that we wanted all the glory, and that we loved to not be under His Lordship). But the amazing thing is that God the Father sent His Son for His people that were His from before the foundation of the world and Christ died in their place and satisfactorily made atonement for their sin, ransomed them from death and sin by His blood, hid them in Him, covered them with His righteousness, left His Holy Spirit to live within them to guide them in truth and convict them of wrong. Christ came for His exclusive Bride and took her place - that’s HUGE! We didn’t make ourselves awake, we didn’t save ourselves, it’s not Him waiting on us - that removes His authority and attributes and makes grace no longer a gift but something that man can boast in.

He doesn’t owe us anything. Do you see? We are not in a position of power over Him - we are people, very undeserving people, who have had grace poured over them, who have had their lives awakened from death and their eyes wondrously opened from the blindness of darkness to see the brilliant radiance of His glory. And none of it is our own doing that we might boast in ourselves and therefore say that He owes us anything. The attention isn’t on us. We don’t make Him do things. It’s not if I do x, then He will do something. There must be a shift in focus to beholding. Only then is there an utter and most splendid peace. Whether we have much or little, whether we go through highs or lows, there can be joy in the midst of our circumstances. So as we enter this New Year, reflect on this ever-continuing truth. We always have something to be joyful about - His grace, Christ’s work, being made new, seeing His glory. And we worship Him through our lives in response to the wonder of this undeserved work of sovereignly-gracious love. And if, if or when, He adds anything onto this truth in our lives, that’s an additional reason to be in awe. But if not, there is more depths to mine in those wondrous truths about His sovereign work of redemption and His blood-bought salvation of His people and the efficacy of it and how we will become as we are already seen as being in the Father’s eyes and how the Godhead worked and moved even the tiniest details of history to bring each one of His people to see the glorious weightiness of the cross. This is the foundation, this is the constant line of joy and hope that runs through our lives. For who are we? Who are we but little humans? And yet we can see the stunning glory of His truth by His work? This is why our joy can never be thwarted because our God cannot be thwarted, His work is certain and His promises are sure.

Happiness is fickle and wearisome - Joy is rooted in God. So have a joy-full New Year and not a happy one :)