Saturday, December 31, 2011
Last day of 2011 — and the sun shines — lovely blue sky — lovely, lovely, lovely!!
This is just a day like another. And tomorrow will be another. Yet today and tomorrow have symbolic significance for us human beings — end of the old > beginning of the new. We aspire to do better than we have before. We aspire to do good things — to live more honourably, more honestly, more truthfully. We aspire to put away the bad and put on what’s good.
YET…
any change is cosmetic. To reach our aspirations we need an interior change — a transformation of the heart. Who can do that? We may try mightily and seem to succeed for a time but we still end up reverting to our default mode. A mode that has decades of imprinting by our upbringing, our choices in life, our experiences, our sufferings, failures, successes, and so on.
Who or what can change our default mode? How do we get out of this rut of reverting? Can we never make a real difference in our own lives? Or, in our family’s? Or, our community’s? Or, our nation’s? Or, our world’s? Will all things revert to that default which we deem unacceptable, untruthful, unloving?
Seems pretty bleak.
We can’t change ourselves let alone anyone else.
But, Jesus Christ can change us. He changes our hearts. He alone makes it possible to reach our aspirations. He alone is the transformer — not a new year resolution or wish, not a promise on our part. We are weak; he is strong.
Sadly, we have legislated anything to do with Jesus out of our schools, our communities, our nation… and, thus too out of our lives, and out of the lives of our children. Sad really. The one person who can sort it all out is relegated to the dustbin.
YET…
Psalm 113: 4,5 “For the LORD [Jesus] is high above the nations; his glory is far greater than the heavens. Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high?”
For those who seek Jesus… God bless you!
If you don’t, may you be surprised to discover how great is his love for you in 2012!