New Year, New Mercies

Happy New Year!!!

Out with the old and in with the new, right? We love this time of year. It tends to feel rejuvenating, refreshing. It's a fresh start. A new opportunity to be the best you can be and finally accomplish that goal you never got around to last year.

A new year signals change. It's an abrupt turn into a new season. But you know what hasn't changed?

God is still faithful. God is still merciful. God is still love.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

Mercy is the act of not getting what you deserve. Scripture says EVERY MORNING, the Lord has new mercies for us. New ways that he looks at us and sees Christ's perfection instead of our sin.

That's not just on January 1st. That's every day. If you've surrendered your life to Jesus and repented, then you're covered by His blood and these new mercies are yours every single day. What if we woke up every day with that "new start" mindset?

But every day doesn't feel like a new start. By February, we've already slipped up on our New Year resolutions, our schedules are ramping up and we start to feel worn.

Can I tell you why I think that happens?

You may not like it, but here goes.

I think we're reluctant to repent of yesterday's sins, so we can't receive the mercy of today.

"Repent, therefore and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus..." - Acts 3:19-20

God knows how we operate. He ought to - He made us. He knows that as long as we're living under the shadow of our sins, we can't really experience His mercy and be refreshed. When you try to follow Jesus don't repent, you get bogged down with guilt, shame, and it's really easy to fall into the trap of "doing" for Jesus to try to earn this love we don't deserve.

That's why John the Baptist, taught about repentance as he prepared the way for Jesus. People couldn't fully receive Him without it.

"Mercy triumphs over judgment." - James 2:13

God desires mercy. He loves it! He would rather show us His mercy over judgment. But we have to repent and turn away from sin. If we don't, God is forced to use judgment to set us right and bring us to the point of repentance.

This story is told over and over in the Old Testament. Now, I know you immediately just pictured the "wrathful God of the Old Testament," and probably think I'm crazy. But go back and read some of those stories again.

People rebel, God usually calls it out, in the instances that they repent, God shows mercy. Even in the instances where only one person repents and intercedes for the rest, God shows mercy. When God does show judgment, it's after he's given an opportunity for repentance.

Truthfully, the more I read the Old Testament, the more I see how merciful God is, rather than wrathful.

And He doesn't change.

So yes, His mercies are new every single morning. But you have to be willing to repent. Be brave enough to own up to your sins of yesterday, turn away from them and seek His face anew today.