As we come to the end of a year and the beginning of another, we gaze both backward and forward – contemplating the past and attempting to peer into the future.
The New Year can be seen as a fresh start, a time for resolutions and pledges concerning habits and behaviors we’d like to weave into the launch of this new time frame.
What better place than the Bible itself to gather ideas as we revisit the past 12 months and anticipate the next dozen pages on the calendar? Here are some verses about the past and the future that can serve to support and encourage us in the beginning of your New Year. Interwoven among them are thoughts of trust, faith, confidence, salvation and more.
Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Isaiah 43:18-19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
Proverbs 23:17-18: “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”
Philippians 3:13-14: “… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 4:22-24: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Colossians 3:9-10: “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
II Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”
Galatians 3:27: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
The author of Hebrews (13:8) agrees with James: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” So does Malachi (3:6): “For I the Lord do not change.”
Life is just the opposite. It constantly fluctuates, often with chaos and confusion reigning. But with God we have consistency.
That’s something to remember as we seek new beginnings in this new year. Let’s allow these “New Year’s scriptures” to uplift and inspire and help us sing “Auld Lang Syne” with an accent on what truly matters.
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Memory verse for this month: II Corinthians 5:17 (See above.)
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
