Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.
Isaiah 43:18, 19
I can respond to the higher number on my scale in a few different ways. One is to joyfully say, "There's just more of me to love!" Another is to puddle in a heap on the floor, cursing the woman at the coffee shop who introduced me to Eggnog Chai Lattes. I can look back and regret every time I celebrated the holidays with a tasty morsel. Or I can look forward, lace up my shoes, and get going with some better habits starting now.
Many of us are starting 2013 with an awareness of all the things we should be doing better. We might have determined to start an exercise routine, to eat a healthier diet, to give more time to the people who matter most to us, or to deepen our prayer lives. These are all good goals and help us to live out Ephesians 5:15: "Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise."
Unfortunately, the best intentions can quickly become sources of discouragement as we encounter our weaknesses while trying to improve. In a few weeks, we might look back and see that false starts, failures, and ingrained bad habits have thwarted our efforts. We might feel disheartened when the very things we disliked in our parents have become so evident in our own lives. We may wonder if we'll ever change.
The prophet Isaiah challenges us to stop looking backwards. God is doing something new! The inspiration we feel to change in positive ways comes from Him. It's evidence that He is at work within us. "For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work," Phil. 2:13. No matter how much life might feel like a wilderness or a wasteland, God can transform it.
How does this transformation happen? Does it come from striving? Does it depend on our perfection? The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit." The inner change happens in us as we gaze on the glory of the Lord. It takes place as we contemplate Christ. As we sit in His presence and meditate on His holiness, we are soaking up His love. We are beholding His glory and, in the process, we begin to reflect it.
This is our hope. This is what makes us different. God wants each one of us to continuously grow more like Him, but doesn't expect us to do it alone. "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus," Phil. 1:6. He is going to do something new in our life this year! What God can transform!
"Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to Him be glory!" Ephesians 3:20-21
Praying for Christ's richest blessings on you,
Lisa Brenninkmeyer
