New Beginnings

The best thing about a new year for most people is the perceived clean slate.

It’s as if the God of all time gives us a do-over January 1st that wasn’t there the day before. Of course, this is not actually true, but sometimes this perceived notion is all we need to thrust us forward.

This new year holds many opportunities for us to read God’s word more consistently. There’s the opportunity to love people better. We have the opportunity to make a difference in our friends’ and families’ lives. I have intentionally placed the word opportunity here because that is just what it is. An opportunity is like potential energy. If you remember potential energy from your days in high school physics then you know that potential energy changing to the state of moving becomes kinetic energy. Some force had to put it into motion. Once an object is in motion, its natural tendency is to stay in motion until friction slows it down. This is similar in the new beginnings we commit to at the front of the new year.

Let’s do our best to choose to take on some of these new opportunities.

If you are struggling to read daily in your Bible, forgive yourself and start over. Set a strict goal of one or two chapters each day and stick to it. Don’t let yourself do more or less than the goal you have set. You cannot skip days in the Word of God and then read ten chapters at a time thinking you will accumulate the same outcome as daily reading. It’s not the same process. The same would be true when a student crams for a test instead of doing the work throughout the semester.

If you have been one who criticizes often, make a vow to the Lord, being reminded daily through the Holy Spirit, to encourage others and never criticize. This is going to take a lot of work, but it is work commanded to you and to me by Jesus. No one likes to be criticized, but just about everyone likes to be around people who encourage.

Lastly, if you have never been good at memorizing scripture, this is the best time to get started.

Use small and familiar verses to begin. Do your best to try and understand the context of the verses. Knowing the context will not only help your memorization, but it will also help you apply it in future conversations.

Whatever you attempt, do it will all of your heart. Set realizable goals and pray that God will open your life to new beginnings.

Blessings,
-Micah Brooks
www.micahbrooks.com