20 The First Day of the New Year

The First Day of the New Year

What a mercy that we have been spared until now. How many have been cut down during the last year. We might have begun this year in Hell. Oh, if we had! How dreadful the thought! But many who began the last year as we begin this — are in Hell now. They little thought that it would be so — but there they are, and now there is no redemption, there is no way of escape. They are shut up in hopeless despair. Their doom is forever fixed. And why are we spared? To go on in sin? To abuse the mercy that has been shown to us? To aggravate our woe? Oh, no! We are spared that we may escape from the wrath to come, that we may secure the pardon of our sins, and that we may be happy both in this world and in that which is to come. This is the first day of the new year — and what is our first thought? What shall we fix our thoughts upon? Let us think of past mercies — and past sins; let us think of present danger — and present duty; let us think of future probabilities — and certainties. Let us think of our state before God — what is it? Are we pardoned — or condemned? Are we children of wrath — or sons of God? Are we reconciled to God — or living at enmity with God? Do we ever speak to him in prayer, look to him in faith, walk with him in love, work for him with pleasure, or long to be with him in glory? We cannot be in friendship with God if we do not. This is the first day of the new year — and what is our first desire? Is it to be made holy, to be conformed to the image of Christ, and to be used to the glory of God? Do we desire grace from God to make us like God? Do we desire to possess unquestionable evidence that we are born of God, that we are accepted of God, that we are approved of God? Do we desire to please God, and to please him well in all things? Are our desires ascending to Heaven — or are they confined to the present world? The desires show the state of the heart; if they are carnal — so is the heart; if they are spiritual — so is the heart. This is the first day of the new year — and what shall be our first prayer? Shall we pray for a special blessing, asking it of God as a new year’s gift? If so, what shall we ask for? Reader, think, what would you wish God to give you to begin this year with? Let us ask . . .
for faith — that we may believe his word;
for repentance — that we may be sorry for our sins;
for love — that we may cleave to Jesus;
for zeal — that we may work in God’s cause; and
for thorough consecration to God — that there may be no mistake about our character or destination! This is the first day of the new year — and what shall be our first effort? Shall it be to secure our own salvation, and enjoy the knowledge of it in our own souls; thus securing all temporal good, and escaping all spiritual evil? Let us hear and attend to the admonition of the Savior, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these (temporal good things) shall be added unto you." Let us regard the Savior’s direction, "Labor not for the food which perishes — but for that food which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you." A kingdom may be won — shall we win it? Bread for the soul may be obtained — shall we obtain it?

What shall be our first aim? On what shall we fix the eye, the heart, at the beginning of this year? Shall it be on something temporal or on spiritual blessings? Shall we aim to be great, or to be good? To gratify self, or honor God? To live like the beasts that perish, or as immortal, intelligent, and accountable creatures? Dear friends, let us aim high. Let us aim to be all that God is willing to make us, to obtain all that God has promised to give us, and to enjoy all that God has engaged to confer on those that seek him. Let us aim in all we do to get near to God, to be made like Jesus, to prepare for eternal glory, and to make all about us as happy as we can.

Remember — this may be our last year. The sentence may have gone forth, "This is what the Lord says: I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die!"Jeremiah 28:16.

Let us therefore be ready. Let us make sure that we are in Christ, that we are God’s workmanship created anew in Christ Jesus, that Christ is in us the hope of glory, that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and that we are made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.