2019. It’s going to be much the same as 2018 and every year before it. The wicked will prosper and the righteous perish. The wrong people will be in power, the marginalised will continue to be marginalised, the poor, the needy, and the persecuted still oppressed. Anxiety, depression and mental opposition will remain itching at the walls of your mind while sin crouches out your heart seeking to rule over you (Genesis 4:7). Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Something is not right with the world, and no amount of New Year’s resolutions or self-help plans will change that despite, perhaps, their placebic therapeutic value. 2019 is not going to be a new year, nothing special will occur that hasn’t already taken place. “A fresh year!” we might say, “a new year to start again and fix what was broken in the last.” However, no amount of glue can cover the cracks of our broken vessels. We remain weak and vulnerable, and yet somehow we are left believing that if we just have one more new year we can fix everything that’s been broken in the past ever since Adam. A human can no more fix the world around them or within them then a cracked pot can put itself together. The pot, like humanity, must have something greater than itself to bring the pieces back together. A Potter.
This new year let me urge you to, in a sense, see nothing new within the year itself, don’t look to self-help guides or resolutions rather, look to One who can make you and all things completely new (Revelation 21:5). Now all of a sudden as you trust in the Saviour, though sin may still crouch it can be easily ignored and ruled over (Romans 6). Though depression and anxiety may still scratch away, your mind can now dwell on that which is pleasing instead (Romans 12, Philippians 4:8). Though many of us have felt like death this year, Jesus wants to bring us abundant life (John 10:10). Though we have felt loveless and even unworthy of love Christ wants to pour out His endless love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) making it new along with our spirits and minds (Ezekiel 36:26).
Fear not.
There will come a day when Jesus will rule with an iron rod as king of His kingdom (Psalm 2, Revelation 2:27). Where He will bring justice and peace to all nations (Isaiah 41, Matthew 12), but like all the best things in life this will take time and because it will be the best thing of all it will take the most. In the meantime, let Jesus do a work in you now. You don’t need to lay shattered and broken if only you come to Him and drink.
Scribbling Theology: 