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Coming to the End of 2023!
COMING TO THE END OF 2023!
In a few weeks 2023 will be history, and we will be entering the new year of 2024. The end of one year and the beginning of the next year is a great time to stop and reflect on our lives. We are one year closer to our deaths and one year closer to when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. We are one year closer to determining where we will spend eternity. A lot of things have happened over the last twelve months, and we need to stop and learn from our mistakes and our successes. Please consider the following thoughts as you reflect upon 2023.
Are we numbering our days? Psalm 90 raises this question when we read, “The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years … so teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” When I was 25 years old, I gave very little thought to the fact that I had lived one-third of my life. At 35 years old, my life was good, and things were going well. There was no thought that one half of my life could be over. Now, as I reach 74 years of age, I spend more time thinking about the reality of death. As we look back on 2023, did we number our days and use them wisely in serving the Lord?
Have we forgotten His grace? The end of a year provides us with the opportunity to look back at how we have lived this year. Have we lived our lives in such a way that we have acknowledged God’s goodness and His grace toward us? We are all sinners, and if we have not obeyed God, we are lost. Before our obedience to God and His plan of salvation, we were just as sinful as murderers and blasphemers. It is by God’s grace that we live. Peter reminds us that as Christians we can become unfruitful and spiritually blind when we lose sight of God’s grace. Peter says, “They have forgotten that they were cleansed from their old sin.” (2 Peter 1:8-9) Have you forgotten God’s grace?
Have we buried the past? We can completely forget the past, but too many of us live in guilt which leads to depression and low self-esteem. Paul is a great example of one who put his past behind him and lived for the Lord. We must learn to live in the present and let God deal with the past. God has forgotten our past, and we should as well when we obey His Word. Paul wrote, “But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
A new year is before us with great opportunities and challenges. Each will determine what kind of year you will have in 2024. Will we have a good year or a bad one? No doubt, we will have trials and challenges, but we can do our best to make 2024 a great year. Our attitudes toward these trials and challenges will determine whether 2024 is a good year or a bad one. Make the right choice!
Written by Larry Schneider
