Pastor's Corner- A Renewed You

BY PAUL HATHCOAT

As the new year arrives and we get to reflect on the year behind, I often think about new resolutions. I think that New Year’s resolutions get a bad rap. I’ve heard many people say that they just set us up for failure in the future. I disagree, though. I think a new year gives us a ripe opportunity to reflect, take time to pause and decide on who we are going to be in this time of renewal. Let’s look at the idea of becoming new and see what the Bible has to say about this idea from a pastor’s perspective.

We would all do well to remember that we can renew ourselves, our lives and our faith through commitments that we invite the Lord into. Hollow and earthly-based resolutions have a way of losing momentum and even weighing us down because, frankly, we feel the weight of carrying the burden of true change ourselves. We can however, resolve to change for good by inviting the Holy Spirit into our journey toward Christlikeness and renewal. We would do well to remember that no matter how far we feel removed from our faith or how disobedient we have been as believers, with the Lord’s help, we can begin anew.

So, what is it? What is the recipe for real, life-altering, resolute renewal, even when we feel like we have tried before yet failed? I say the answer can be found in the Book of Ephesians. Ephesians 4:22-24 says this, “but that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything — and I do mean everything — connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life — a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.” (Eph. 4:22-24, MSG)

We must “get rid of it” and “take on an entirely new way of life.” It can be like changing clothes. We need to remove the old, soiled rags of before and put on the God-given garments of truth and life now. If, as men and women, we hold onto the old clothes that got us to where we are today, then the chance of genuine transformation and renewal in 2023 is nearly zero. We need to be made “new in the attitude of our minds.” (Eph. 4:23) You can be a new creation modeled after the Lord and fully different because of what He can and will do for you, not what you or I can do for ourselves.

If you are working toward a resolution this year and are at the point in your life where you truly want to be transformed from the inside, then consider the offer that the Lord makes to all of us. He sees us in our sinfulness and watches as we strive and stress to make our lives comfortable and livable. In His heart, though, and through His word, we know that He understands that apart from Him, our efforts will be fruitless. The best of what we have to offer that comes from our sin-stained hands is like filthy rags to the Lord and helps us only for a fleeting moment. But, if we truly invite the Lord into our desire to be made new, and we repent for the sins of our daily lives, then He points us toward the only lasting way to be something other than who we are now, His son Jesus Christ. Have you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you invited Him into your life to free you from the bondage of sin and the world around you? If you have, then rejoice with me in ringing in a new year that will be full of grace and faith, founded in an understanding of an eventual complete renewal in heaven. But if you have not, then do not let another year come and go where you delay in accepting His offer.

I hope and pray that we all have a blessed and fulfilling year in 2023. I believe the Lord is doing great things in the special needs community. I see where parents and caregivers are finding community and faith all at the same time, and I see where Special Needs Living-Indianapolis & Surrounding Areas magazine is becoming a big part of that process. Thank you for continuing to invite me into your monthly lives, and thank you to those of you who are responding to my articles and the Lord himself. May peace and love fill your year ahead, fully renewed and fully clothed in the righteousness of the Lord!

Do you have a thought, idea or information that you would like to see in this section in an upcoming issue? Email Paul Hathcoat at phathcoat@wrcc.org.