A new year has started, and with it new possibilities. I know, that sounds like a corny Hallmark card. Like the happily-ever-after of a fairy tale. Some people have a right to be skeptical. But not Christians. With a risen Savior, a happily ever after is guaranteed. Because God is for us and His mercies are new every morning, every day that begins with faith in God’s promises is a fresh start.
How did yours begin?
With the plan of God, the salvation of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, all the sentimental sayings in needlepoint hangings reflect the hidden realities of the kingdom that lie buried in everyone’s subconsciousness.
“Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.” With faith, confession, repentance, and surrender, every day begins a new adventure in God’s hands. Every morning, surrender to Him in your need. No matter what our circumstances, God is in control, working out His plan. His plan is the same as it always was: that we be “conformed to the image of His Son,” not through days of ease, but trusting Him through the challenges life brings. That’s what Jesus did, so we do it too.
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” This sentimental quote makes sense to the Christian who has his hand firmly clasped in the hand of the Bridegroom. Thrown into the deepest part of the dungeon, Paul and Silas worshipped aloud, every prisoner hanging onto their words. “And we know that all things are working together for good to those who love God,” Romans 8:28 concludes. We thought these were difficult and dreary times. But God has turned the tables on our sufferings, using our afflictions to hammer us into the faithful, joyful, and triumphant. God has been with me in all the other hard times, so He will help me through one as well. Fortified with these thoughts, we dance in the rain.
“Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.” Is this merely sugar-sweet and too-clever wordplay by half? No, it’s more. I live for those moments when God speaks through His word, or a sermon, or an illustration, and communicates His love to me. Then life is also imparted: hope is strengthened, vision is clarified, and vigor is restored — to rejoice in Him during adversity. Colossians 1:11 speaks of this in Paul’s prayer: “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” God’s power looks like patience.
The heavenly mansion Jesus is making for us will make every fairy-tale castle look like a shack in comparison. The big bad wolves of the world have nothing on us, for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We are only camping out here; the Home Sweet Home ahead of us will find death defeated, sin overcome, and all tears wiped away.
Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? For the Christian, there’s more. We know there will be a resurrection of the just, rewards for the faithful, eternal life of knowing God, and victory for the overcomer — who are all simple believers who take God at His word day by day.
The Yellow Brick Road is not good enough for us. Rather, let our minds be set on the highway of holiness, our feet on the path of righteousness, and our hearts rejoicing in the new and living way.
In Jesus, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, we finally find the truth behind the knight in shining armor, the giant-slayer, the hero who saves the hour. No sword is so piercing, nor wand so powerful, nor incantation so life-altering than the power of God’s word to transform our souls. Remember the love that drew you to Him, and continue in the high and holy life to which He has called you.
