Much Ado About Something

For some folks, New Year’s Eve is the biggest party all year. But why celebrate a new year?

That’s the question that came to mind as I watched a report last week showing fireworks and New Year’s celebrations around the world. And it’s hard to come up with a logical answer.

Maybe it’s like the title of Shakespeare’s play, “Much ado about nothing.” But I think not.

In some countries the New Year is a major holiday like Thanksgiving in the United States. But while every country doesn’t agree on the date (most do use January 1), all seem to agree it should be celebrated. Cultures that keep yearly calendars all have New Year celebrations.

Perhaps it’s a collective sigh of relief: “We made it through last year and survived!” Maybe.

But I suspect it has more to do with the feeling of a fresh start. A turning of the page, as it were. Regardless of what happened last year, we feel like anything is possible in the New Year!

Now hold it right there for just a minute. Why does turning the calendar page to January carry so much emotional power?

Could it be that something deep in the human heart longs for a “clean slate?” A “fresh start?”

Life is such a “do it yourself” mess, isn’t it? Who hasn’t thought, “I know I could do better if I just got another chance”? And a new year seems to offer us that chance.

But every year we discover that a “second chance” isn’t the answer we thought it’d be! We still make mistakes. Life is still a big mess.

As we become wiser and more self aware, we slowly begin to realize that the problem is more than just making bad choices. It’s WHY we make those choices to begin with.

Sooner or later we realize that human beings are completely selfish. At first we think it’s just other people. But if we’re willing to be honest with ourselves, we realize we are selfish, too.

What if you could go back and start life over and know what you know now? You could certainly avoid the bad choices and mistakes you’ve made along the way, couldn’t you?

The truth is, you’d make other equally bad choices. Then what? A third or fourth chance?

In the Bible God offers everyone an amazing solution: A truly new beginning. To be born again. But not as the same old person. Instead God gives us the power to make right choices.

God’s solution is not a physical rebirth but a spiritual rebirth. It begins when we put our trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sin and from ourselves.

When we come to God through Christ, the Bible says God forgives and forgets our mistakes. Then he gives us a new nature capable of living right and choosing right.

The Bible adds, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God.”

This is where other religions fall short. They lack the ability to change us on the inside.

To read about it yourself, pick up a Bible and start in the third chapter of the Gospel of John.

Now don’t misunderstand me. Christ’s followers can still make bad choices. They can still be selfish. What has changed is their main motivation. Life is no longer all about them. It is about God and pleasing him and serving others.

Only God can give us a true fresh start. For golfers it’s the ultimate “Mulligan” --a “do over” for your life!

A new life in Jesus Christ—now that’s something worth celebrating!

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!