Happy New Year! As we begin this year of 2024, let's start it out happy. For sure, almighty God wants us to be happy because we've just finished celebrating His good tidings of great joy, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything new ought to make us happy. However, sometimes our problems and pains have a tendency to weigh us down and keep our happiness from floating, especially when the waters of trouble are turbulent, and our trials come up like riptides.

    You probably already know this by now but in case you need reminding God can make the worst thing turn out most wonderful! Are you smiling yet? Not only that, but He can also make pretty good things even better than what we imagined them to be. Here's how God does that: 

"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, write for these words are true and faithful." Revelation 21:5

     Several years ago, during the first premarital counseling session with a couple who were living together already, the bride-to-be responded to my reference from God's Holy Word regarding sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage by saying "Tell me preacher how will being married make this relationship better?" to which I answered "you won't have the guilt"! "Oh!" the young lady said, "I never thought of that." There are probably a lot of people who won't be having a happy new year. It's a shame too because it's just wasting grace in a sense. It's not easy, in fact it's done a lot. Christians cover up grace with bad habits and even though drugs and drinks and the pursuit of pleasure numbs the pain, it does not make for true happiness. If we really look at our lives, and it's a good time to do this as we begin a new year, we should search for any unconfessed sin or guilt which may be tugging along from last year.

     "Not guilty" are two Amazing Grace words which we all need and long to hear from the judge of the earth. Guilt affects our guts in that it inhibits us from digesting life in a spiritually healthy manner. A person can become spiritually constipated from unconfessed sin! Guilt also affects our gut because when we are guilty, we won't have the guts to stand up for Jesus nor fight the fight of faith. Guilt will not only hold our happiness down but will also make cowards of us all.

     Let's don't let our regrets reign when Jesus is seated by the right side of God on His throne in Heaven. He has already completed His work on the cross paying for our sins there, and has risen from the tomb to seal our salvation and eternal life forever. Now, He is our faithful intercessor, redeemer who is especially good at completing our incompleteness. The sooner we all admit we are failures and submit totally to God's sovereign word and merciful love, the happier we'll be because of the newness that comes with it.

     There is no better way to begin the new year than as a failure seeking the newness of a fresh start. After all true success is measured by how high we go after hitting bottom. I've heard counselors at addiction recovery say that a person must hit bottom before he or she can really benefit from the program's format. Applied spiritually to believers, since we are all sinners with a fallen nature prone to be addicted to something getting to the bottom should be the best place to start in the right direction, up! Be thankful that there is a bottom, for hell does not have a bottom. We need to remember that when we are down to nothing God is up to something. God is more likely to help those who cannot help themselves then He is likely to help those who can help themselves.

     Let's start this new year with an "Up"! Note, not "UPS" but "UP". We have all seen too many of those brown truck vans with yellow writing on the door pulling into our yards bringing packages to our homes. What we probably have not seen enough of are people looking up, ourselves included. The result of all this is that we have accumulated a lot of stuff, and we don't have enough, at least we're not convinced we do. If our focus is up, if we set our minds on things above there will always be enough because not only is God good all the time He is also enough even in bad times.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.Matthew 16:24

     The best way to do something we don't particularly like to do is commit ourselves to the task by taking it up. For example, I don't really like to pick up limbs in my yard, though I really like the trees there. The best way to deal with down limbs is to pick them up. Dragging the limbs might work but it takes more work to do it that way. Trying to push the limbs into a pile would just dig up the grass and cause an even bigger mess. i could aspire to get the limbs out of my yard the American way by waiting for someone else to do it. I have found though that these fallen limbs will not jump into the back of my truck or on my trailer by themselves, even it Alexa tells them to. So, if I want my yard clean, and would rather not use my lawn mower for a woodchopper, I pick them up myself.

     Following Jesus is a lot like picking up limbs and though we all love Him so and greatly appreciate the benefits of His blessings and redeeming grace but we're not so good at Kingdom maintenance. Forgiveness and prayer, especially when pride and selfishness and covetousness show up, can be hard work. Following our savior is not a stroll through a heavenly garden but a crawl on a narrow path of poverty and problems. The thing about it is, the task and the crosses come with the territory, with Jesus and the limbs just how much I like having trees in my yard. If there were no trees, then there would be no limbs to pick up. Likewise, if there was no Jesus, no Savior, there would be no cross to bear. I much rather deal with the limbs and carry my cross, wouldn't you?

GIVE UP

     We have just finished celebrating the birth of the greatest gift ever given, the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent us a savior because He was the only one who could give God what was necessary to redeem His people. Namely, a sinless divine life wrapped in human flesh that would hang on a cross and bleed. When Jesus said on the cross "It is finished", He meant it and so did His father. That being the case, when it comes to earning God's favor of forgiveness by good works or religious rituals, we might as well give up. It's too late anyway, Jesus Christ has already done it all.

     The best gift we can give God is to give ourselves, give it all up! Coughing up infection in our lungs due to a cold is not pleasant, nor pleasing to the sight, but aids in recovery and restoration of health. Coughing up or confessing our sins can be tougher than picking up limbs but will make our journey with Jesus more enjoyable. One thing is for sure, we are God's anyway and to give Him what's already His, shouldn't be too much of a problem for us. A lifeguard saving a person from drowning in the river would much rather that person quit trying to swim and frail frantically, but instead give up and into the lifeguard's arms and strength carrying them to the safety of the shore. Do not try to do life on your own, you won't make it even if you think you can fake it, you cannot. When we submit to God's sovereign providence in every area of our lives, we'll be happier and holier too.

     Denying ourselves is about the same as giving up. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice, and follow Him. The only way to follow Jesus is to stop following anything else. By the way, we will not ever out give God, for He is the great giver. Since we were created in His image and predestined to be like Him, it is most appropriate for us to give up and to give all for He gave His only begotten Son, who gave up His life and shed all His blood so that we would be His followers.

GET UP

     During the recent rush of football games, the prerequisite for the winners and the losers was their ability to get up for the game. Emotional attitude plays a big role in football games and an even bigger role in the game of life. Following Jesus is the only game for the Christian and to be fervently into Christ is to be in the right game.

     The new year will bring new challenges and probably some difficulties we had not expected. Everyday we must get up for God else we'll be easy pickens for the devil and his demon team. One way to Get up for God each day is to begin the day with Him in His word.

For the Lord God will help me; therefore, shall I not be confounded: therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7

     We do not get up for God to be saved, but we should get up for God because we are saved. Even though our get up and go seems like it has got up and went, God always supplies fresh grace to follow Him, and carry our crosses too! The thing about grace that is hard to glimpse is that it is also made of contrast. Getting up sometimes requires us to get down first. We're most likely to not get very high up spiritually unless we get low on our knees in prayer first. God sits high but He looks low.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.Isaiah 57:15

GAZE UP

     Gaze means to look steadily and intently especially in admiration, surprise, or thought. If we are going to follow Jesus in 2024, we must keep our eyes on Him. The Apostle Peter got into big trouble by following too far off and he followed too far off because he stopped looking at Jesus and started looking at himself. Then, he soaked in the sea of failure because he took his eyes off his Lord and looked at the circumstances. If the Apostle Peter's gaze went wrong, we ought to know for sure how prone we are to gaze at the wrong things and in the wrong direction.

     There are so many distractions in our world today, so it's very necessary that we focus our faith on the only viable objects to behold, the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're looking at determines the direction we're going because we are most likely to look at what we love longer than look at anything or anyone else. No doubt, we must be careful what we love, but a good filter lens for loving the right thing is looking at the right thing. This year, look up my friend for that is where almighty God is. The scripture says that "as a man thinks in his heart so is he". This means that by looking up we most likely will be willing to Give Up our selfish ways, Get Up when we get down, and Gaze Up to find the help we need even before we need it.

I will life up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Psalms 121:1

Happy New Year,

Brother Randy