It’s the first Monday of the New Year, do you feel any differently? Have you kept most of the resolutions that you made or did they all go out the window when you woke up Sunday? I’m here to tell you, if you really want to make a change, you won’t wait until New Years to do it. Somebody made a promise to lose weight but you haven’t started yet. Somebody said they were going to stop smoking, but the first thing you grabbed on Sunday morning was your cigarettes and lighter. Somebody said they would start going to church more, but you didn’t get up yesterday because you were still hung-over. I can only imagine how busy the line was to God in the wee hours from folk begging God to get them home safely after drinking. God probably heard from folks that he hasn’t heard from since this time last year.
God has made us who we are and we should change, if the way we are living hinders us from doing God’s work. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” You don’t have to make a change simply because the year changed, but you should change because you want your walk for Christ to be better. See, God doesn’t look at your past like folks do because he promises in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” When you choose to walk on God’s side, he throws away all of your past sins and he wipes the slate clean. He doesn’t bring up stuff you use to do and who you use to be when he becomes angry like folk do. He doesn’t look at your past mistakes to see if you are good enough for this and that because he doesn’t judge. He doesn’t have to pull your credit report to see if you qualify for your blessings and he doesn’t need 3 references to approve you. Once you’ve accepted God into your life, you are new. I’m so glad that I don’t have to wait until 1/1 to change because I can decide to change at any time. In Ezekiel 36:26 God says “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” When God gives you a heart of flesh, he gives you a heart that can feel love, give love, help others and enjoy life. When you have a heart of flesh that is given by God, you’ll be able to handle the dirty looks that you get from folk because you are no longer the same, you’ll be able to handle when folk walk out on you because you don’t hang out in the same places and you’ll be able to handle when folk push you down because they think you’re better than them.
This is a new year but if you’ve been dealing with foolishness all year, you didn’t have to wait until now to make a change. You knew before the New Year that you shouldn’t be 39 and living at home with your parents and your 4 children, you need to change. You know that your spouse isn’t faithful but you didn’t have to wait until now to change that. You know that you haven’t been giving God 100% of you, but you didn’t have to wait until now to change. You should’ve change a long time ago. If you continue to put off whatever change that needs to be made, you might not have a chance too. Stop waiting until you think the time is right because the time will never be right. There’ll always be a bill that has to be paid when you think you have a little extra money to pay tithes and there always be a friend that calls you on Saturday night to keep you from going to church on Sunday. You have to decide when it’s your time to change and you don’t have to wait until a New Year.
Lakisha, the Author 