[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Sunday, January 20, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to all of you, and good Sunday evening to my fellow saints of the Most High God residing in North America.  I hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your day, morning, afternoon or evening are going well.

I found in my archives two extra articles about the new year.  Hope you don't mind these extras.  Anyway the title of this article by an unnamed author who wrote for Good News Publishers is entitled "Ring In the New," rendered as follows:

New year's resolutions, if we make them, can we keep them?

John Jones always gets out his pencil and paper and starts jotting down those bad habits and little shortcomings--with a steadfast determination that, "this time, I'm really going to keep my resolutions."

January 1:  "Everything fine; remembered them all today."

January 2:  "Quite busy at office; during phone conversation a few words slipped--but it wasn't purposely."

January 3:  "Not so good; unconsciously lit a cigarette and reached for a second before I caught myself."

January 4:  "Too busy to think about resolutions today."

January 10:  "Resolutions? Bah! I'm not so bad after all."

How many of us have gone through this same thing? It took only a few days to find out it was pretty hard to make ourselves better--and, finally, we decided we weren't so bad after all.

It just seems to be in human nature to want to make one's self better, but, alas, it cannot be done.  The Bible says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil" (Jeremiah 13:23).

In another place the Bible says, "For though thou wash thee with niter and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 2:22).

And again,  "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked:  who can know it? I the Lord search the heart" (Jeremiah 16:9-10).

Men and women would like to have a new start when they realize their sinfulness, but, alas, they look to the wrong person.  They look within and try to make over that old sinful nature, and each time it ends with utter failure.  God says one might as well try to change the skin of the Ethiopian as to try to do good.

But God has a way of changing a person and giving him a new start.  And God not only gives a new start but blots out the sins of the past.  "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  all things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).

Why not trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior at the beginning of this new year and know the blessedness of sins forgiven, and assurance of Heaven.  Instead of your making new resolutions each year, you will then be able to look back to the time when God gave you a new start, a new life and new hope.

Jesus said, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

And there you have ti for today.  Until tomorrow, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul B. Smith