Barely a week and a half into the new year, and if someone asked how your new year’s resolutions were proceeding, how would you respond?

Many of us love the idea of starting a new year; the mere suggestion of anything new—clothing, notebook, relationship, year—is in itself like a clean slate, a chance to start fresh at something or many things. A love for newness is not something that happens by chance; it’s an intrinsic part of our spirits.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans “Therefore are we buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).

Old to New

To have anything new requires the death of something old. Buying new clothing usually means getting rid of old clothing to make room in your closet.

Starting a fresh notebook means retiring the old notebook to the shelf.

Beginning a new relationship means that a former relationship has ended.

Entering a new year means that we can never return to the old year again.

To become a Christian and walk in newness of life means that we must mortify our sins and crucify our old way of living.

Paul wrote on this topic multiple times through the New Testament, which suggests that this is certainly not an easy concept to grasp, and for those of us who are practicing it, this is most definitely a challenge to live.

New Creatures

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary that this “ought to be the care of all who profess the Christian faith, that they be new creatures; not only that they have a new name, and wear a new livery, but that they have a new heart and new nature. And so great is the change the grace of God makes in the soul, that, as it follows, old things are passed away—old thoughts, old principles, and old practices, are passed away; and all these things must become new.”

You’re not alone if you think this seems impossible.

Every day each one of us makes mistakes.

We all have failings, and as long as we’re living here that will be the case.

We should not, as Paul wrote, continue in sin, that grace may abound.

We must begin anew every day.

Learning to rely on God each day

In his Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis wrote that “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” Thankfully, just as the dawn is new each day, and our mistakes are guaranteed us, so are God’s mercies to us.

“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Originally published as “All things are become new.” Independent Plus. January 12, 2023: 5. Print. Web.

The first week of Advent traditionally focuses on the theme of hope: The Hope of fulfilled Scripture, the Hope of Christ’s birth, the Hope of Christ’s second coming, the Hope that came to earth for you and for me.

As we continue our Advent journey through its second week, another of the themes of this wonderful season is faith. Just as we cannot have Christmas without hope, we also cannot have Christmas without faith. Hope and faith are part and parcel.

A season for anyone who is afraid of the future

As much as Christmas is a season for the hopeless, the grieving, the lonely, and the sad, Christmas is also a season for anyone who is afraid of the future. Perhaps you find yourself afraid of the uncertainty that you’re feeling this season, questioning who you’ll spend Christmas with, what the New Year will bring, why you’re all alone, or how come you’re the only person who feels this way. Feeling afraid? You are not alone!

Right there, in that first chapter of Luke, at the beginning of Christ’s Advent history, we see this example of a woman who was—at least to start—more fearful than faith-filled, but who finished faithful rather than fear-filled.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, when the angel Gabriel came to visit her, was afraid. “And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.” (Luke 1:29). Mary had questions. She was anything but confident, but ultimately Mary chose faith over fear, saying “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38).

Faith must be first

“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity. To grow any kind of faith, we must hold on and move through fear. Just as hope and faith go hand-in-hand, we can expect that for us to grow any kind of meaningful faith means that we must first face and uproot all kinds of fear and other unfavourable feelings.

To hear that “blessed is she that believed” (Luke 1:45), we must put faith first. That doesn’t mean that we won’t ever experience uncertainty or that we’ll never feel afraid, quite the contrary: We will, it just means that we don’t give those feelings first place. Faith must be first and always at the forefront, over fear and other feelings.

Matthew Henry wrote that “Faith respects the thing to come, which is the object of that hope. Faith respects the promise, hope the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, hope the expectation, of things not seen. Faith is the mother of hope.” Christ’s birth, His second coming, His coming to earth for you and for me—and Christ Himself.

Advent is the time where we grow our faith and abide in hope that things will not always be like this, that there is a better day to come, that Christ will make His triumphant return.

Originally published as “A season for anyone who is afraid of the future.” Independent Plus. December 8, 2022: 5. Print. Web.