New Year and the Verb
When we enter a new year, many people do not pause in their lives to take stock of what the past year was like for them. However, Christmas for Christians is important because we commemorate the birth of our Savior and there will be much peace in many hearts. We all have within us a creature that desires something like being born again: a plan, a project, a mission, a spiritual goal that some decide to achieve and that sometimes are achieved. While those who do not achieve those desired perspectives complain and live seasons of pessimism as if it were impossible to achieve them. However, a Christian knows that with faith we can achieve everything within our reach.
If we sit in a dark place to meditate silently, we might think that that darkness resembles the darkness where Mary finally gave birth to Jesus. She was never afraid because she understood the message of the angel “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Luke 1:30-32a ESV. This explains that any darkness that can terrify disappears with the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He was in the beginning with God. All the things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5 ESV
In a new year we can find people who still do not know the Word, and if we tell them what it is about, they could decide to go to the light that illuminates all believers and thus know it. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of the blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of the man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:9-14 ESV
You can invite a non-believer to follow Jesus and become another member of God’s great family. We are starting a new year, any day is favorable for a new member to live a new life full of glory. Let us pray that this grace opens his eyes to contemplate the Light that will lead him to his Salvation. The same salvation that we enjoy thanks to Jesus.
