New Beginnings

We are just two weeks into 2013. Most people start the year off by making a list of resolutions. It is a time when we normally come face to face with our failures and broken promises with the hope of doing better. We often say, “I realize I wasn’t all I could have been in 2012 but this year is going to be different. I’m more determined than ever.” Yes we experience failure, however failure is never final.  Rick Warren says, “We usually think of failure as being a negative experience, but wise people learn from failure and use it to their advantage. They learn from it and grow from it. They use it as a stepping stone.” This means we choose to look beyond the past and to be different.  Surely it must have been under similar circumstances that Paul wrote Ephesians 4.  Here he talks about stopping and starting.  He speaks of the old versus the new.  He encourages us to be “renewed in the Spirit,” and to “put on or become a new man.”  By doing this he reveals a great truth. Changing who we are is directly related to our choosing who we want to be.  Simply stated, we are who we are because of the choices we made yesterday and the person we are tomorrow will be based upon the choices we make today. So during this New Year we can choose success over failure. If this be true should we not incorporate God into our lives resolving to study seriously the things we choose to do, the places we choose to go, and the words we choose to say? Our future depends on it! This can be our year of new beginning.