We are a few short days away from another New Year. A fresh start. A clean slate. Sort of.
The turning of the calendar over and into a new year doesn’t necessarily mean that along with it will come a complete upheaval and reversal of all of the chaotic things that have been associated with this year. That’s not necessarily how it works. It’s not the same as a video game, where you’ve cleared level 2020 and now get to enter into an entirely brand-new situation. I know that this is the hope that resides in the heart of most, but unfortunately, you and I are both well aware that most of what we have gone through this year, during this one year of 2020 that has felt like five years of 2020, is coming right along with us into the new year.
This is not to be the deliverer of bad news. Nope, not at all. In fact, this is to offer a perspective of what and how we should be entering into this new year of 2021. Because we should be excited. We should be hopeful. We should be filled with vision. We should have a restful confidence in God that He is working ALL things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Many of us have felt that there have been so many things that have happened that have been completely outside of our control. There have been situations that have unfolded over the course of this year that has left many feeling helpless…and because of that, hopeless at times. Will things ever change? Will we ever get to go back to normal? Should we be hoping and persistent in praying for the resurrecting of what we once knew to return? I am sure that all of these things have come up in the conversation of your heart before the Lord, conversations with others at some point during the year, or as a casual onlooker of the social media royal rumble that happens daily in the comment section. These conversations have seemed to be unavoidable, regardless of where and with who they have been had.
So, if this year has made us feel like there is much that is outside of our control, is there anything that we do have control over? Is there any area of our life where we can place an anchor to know that we have power to influence the terms? Yes. Absolutely, yes. However, it may not be the place that you are anticipating that I am going to share. It might not be your finances. It may not be your job or career path. It might not be in the political sphere. It may not necessarily be from within the realm of social justice. We have all felt the tension from these places, categories, and conversations over the course of the year. And I am sure that at different points have thought to ourselves how to actually bring about real change or influence in a transformational way and not just a conversational way.
So, let me tell you what you have power over—you have power of your yes.
It is important that you give your yes to the right thing or place. In fact, your yes is most importantly supposed to be given to the right person—Jesus. You have control over the way you give your yes to Him.
This is the beautiful thing about the humility of the Lord. He’s a gentleman. He knows what’s best for you, but He won’t force you into it. He knows that by you saying yes to Him is ultimately what will put you into the best of what He has for you, but He won’t take the yes from you. He has chosen a better way, the way of love. He has chosen to lovingly influence you to the point where you choose to bring Him the yes that He has asked for. He has chosen to be glorified in you through your surrender to Him, rather than by Him executing His power and taking from you what He knows is best for you. This is mind-blowing.
Coming into the new year we can absolutely control the yes that we have to give. There may be many things that seem to be uncertain throughout the world right now. And to even make it much smaller and more personal than that, there may be many things happening in your life that seem to be swirling roundabout and uncertain. Yes, we are dealing with a global situation, but at the same time, what is global has also affected each one of us in a very local and personal way.
The thought of normal may not be something that we ever get back. Are you okay with that? We are experiencing normal right now. That’s not to say that this won’t also change. But only to say that we are standing in what is normal right now because normal is defined by whatever the standard or common type is. And, for most, this year has normalized many things in our culture, and then even in our hearts.
The Lord is looking for a people that will give Him the yes that He is asking for. What we are all experiencing should not completely catch us by surprise. For believers, we know that as we draw closer towards the end of the age, the consummation of the age, that there will be an escalation in darkness and demonic agenda. As we head towards the great revealing and return of King Jesus, the enemy, realizing that he and his rebels are running out of time, will attempt to unleash his fury in an unprecedented way, knowing that their eternal judgement stands before them. But in the midst of this rising darkness, chaos and the tyranny of wickedness there will be a people who burn with a one thing jealousy. Jesus will have a people in those days that are radiant, they will be illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit, shining like bright stars in the dark night sky of corruption. We know these things. We know we are that people.
As we set ourselves to enter into 2021, will you say yes to Him?
With all of the baggage and conflict that we seem to be carrying into 2021, will you say yes to King Jesus? Will you choose to live for Him in a way that honors Him with an excellent yes? Will you live in covenant love and loyalty to Him as King?
I am not setting any conditions on that yes. It’s not, well, if things change, then yes. It’s not, well, if I have certain conditions that are more suitable to my likings, then yes. That’s not how it works.
Think about this…if advent season reminds of anything it is this, that God chose to leave a safe place, to enter into hostile territory, with an excellent yes, loving relentlessly and revealing the jealousy of a Father to His sons and daughters, and He got killed for it. He then conquered death through love, rose up and out of death as the firstborn from the dead, thus creating a way, a path, for you and me to now no longer be afraid of pain, hostility, rejection, or death itself. These are now no longer things that should resist us from offering the excellent yes that He Himself is asking us for—for He has swallowed these things up in Himself and conquered them through the cross of His love for us. Praise God forever!
As you consider the coming close of the new year may your heart be overwhelmed. As you consider His grace towards you and the effective working of His power in you by His Spirit, may you be reminded that our God is not intimated by hostile territory; He’s not afraid of the dark. The One who is the light of the world is still the light of the world. And He is in you.
Praying for you. Believing that the Lord will strengthen you with His Spirit to be faithful to Him. May you find Him worthy, the pearl of great price, of the yes that He longs for.
