Reflections on the New Year

Introduction. With the passing of each year, we are reminded of the brevity and fleeting nature of life. During this final week of 2015, we have an opportunity to evaluate the past and make preparations for the future. Scripture has a lot to say about how best to use this week.

Teach us to Number our Days.

• The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:10-12)

With a 70-80 year life span as a general guideline, we must learn that with the passing of each year something precious has been given and used that will never come again. As these years slip through our hands, God wants us to learn how to number these days and learn how to properly assess them. Each year is like a milestone leading us from our birth and youth to our eternal destiny. As we pass through each year, the future should weigh heavily on our mind, since “it is appointed to man once to die but after this the judgment” where “we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body.” (Heb. 9:27; 2Cor. 5:10). We are moving quickly toward that appointment with Christ, and only by numbering those days and realizing how quickly they are passing can we gain that heart of wisdom to properly prepare.

Make me to Know my End.  In a similar passage, God bids us to know our end, measure our days and begin to understand how frail we are. While the years may seem long as we live them, the truth is that they are only handbreadths, and that even in our best state we are only a vapor.

• LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. 5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. 6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. 7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You (Ps. 39:4-7).

Our Salvation is Nearer than When we First Believed.  As we reflect on this past year, we are to become more circumspect, realizing that we are rushing toward eternity and the salvation we sought when we obeyed the gospel is drawing ever closer.

• And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (Rom. 13:11-12).

A Generation is Passing and Another Generation is Coming.  This is another important thing we must learn with the passing of each year.  Previous generations have already come and gone and the time for our own to pass away draws ever closer.

• One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. 5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. ... 9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in ancient times before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after. (Eccl. 1:4-11).

The Rest of our Time in the Flesh.  The passing of a year also reminds us that so much time has passed and so much time remains. Out of the 70-80 years, each year shortens “the rest of our time in the flesh.”

• Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles-- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. (1Pet. 4:1-3).

A Time to be Born and a Time to Die.  With the passing of each new year, our time to be born moves further and further into the past while our time to die draws ever nearer.

• For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (Eccl. 3:1-2)

Forgetting the Things that are Behind.  This is a very important consideration. Regret, remorse, and lamentation often accompany the past. We could have done better and made better use of opportunities. This is the time of year to repent and confess our regrets to God. This is the time of the year to “forget the past” and move on to the future.

• Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Phil. 3:13-14).

Lay Aside the Weights.

• Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Heb. 12:1-2)

Multitudes have passed through this life as we are now doing. We have multitudes to look back upon. Many of them had regrets and self-reproach, but they moved on. They set aside these weights and ran that race that was set before them. Life is too shore to all the past to destroy the future.
​
Conclusion.  The last week of each year is a precious gift from God to remind us of where we have been and where we are going. By using this time to properly evaluate ourselves, we can gain a heart of wisdom.