New Beginnings: Renew your Trust in Jesus – 18 January 2022

Discussing our ‘owies’ (injuries that had left scars and bruises) as we left a moonlit Carol Service before Christmas, my granddaughter realised that her ‘owie’, from some weeks before, was still tender. I assured her that I’d ask Jesus to make it better again, to which she responded, “Will you phone Him?” When I explained that I didn’t need a phone as He was near me and I would just close my eyes and ask Him to heal her ‘owie’, she promptly closed her eyes and asked Jesus to heal me of mine.

My little granddaughter doesn’t know Jesus but she knows me and immediately trusted that if I could talk to Him and He would help her, then she could too, and He would help me. That special moment showed the simplicity and purity of a child’s heart and trust and demonstrates why Jesus said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. (Matthew 18:3) Children admit their needs and trustingly ask for help.

The past two years have caused us all to undergo unprecedented trials which have shaken the faith of many. Handling any crisis alone isn’t easy, but those who trust in God can turn to Him with any heartache or failure when faith is faltering. He is the “one who sits on the throne” and “make(s) all things new”. We can trust Him; He has proved His love for the world and His, “words are true and can be trusted” forever because He is “the first and the last, the beginning and the end”. Our Creator has the perfect credentials to know us exactly and to meet our needs.

John, the writer of Revelation, had been describing the new heaven and the new earth in which “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4), confirming what Isaiah had also prophesied: God would one day, “wipe away tears from all faces.”(Isaiah 25:8) This He promised to the thirsty who drink “from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:6) – God’s free gift in Jesus – who are victorious.

Do we recognise our thirst? Are we daily drinking from the life-giving spring that only Jesus can provide? The beginning of this new year is a good time to pause and take stock of the state of our own faith after the difficulties endured last year. We may still be nursing ‘owies’ which we need to surrender to Jesus, to free us to go forward with renewed faith and trust.

Carrying baggage into a new year will not help to heal wounds or to begin afresh. To make a difference that is lasting, we need to assess honestly where we are.

Prayer: Father God, help me to readily acknowledge my needs and to trust You “to make all things new” for me, through Jesus, in this brand new year. Amen