A couple of weeks ago we sang a song in church that I don’t think I have sung since I was a child at the First Baptist Church of Clovis.

“The Old Rugged Cross”

Not only did a flood of memories wash over me, but the words themselves spoke truth back into me.

The singing of that old hymn reminded me that as we head into another new year and look ahead and dream of a world of possibilities, we should not forget the past.

Yes, we need to hope.

Hope for new opportunities.
Hope of reconciled relationships.
Hope of better health.
Hope of Christ’s second coming.
Hope.

But we also need to hang on to the past. So many times we want to jettison the past and look only to the future, but as Isaiah 46:9 says “Remember the former things of old.”

​Not to our past mistakes or our past sins, regrets, or shame that we have left at the foot of the cross, but we are to remember the things that God has done in His power, wisdom, goodness, wrath or mercy (Bible Study Tools).

I love the picture attached to this blog, for, in literature, a child always represents hope for the future, and in this photo, the young girl is looking at pictures of her family’s past history. 

If we are part of the family of God, we should be excited about the new year and all that God can and will do with it, but we should also look back over the past year and remember all that God has done.

Happy New Year.

(If it has been a while since you have heard “The Old Rugged Cross” here it is.)

In two days 2024 will be a reality. Wow! It seems like only yesterday that we were worried if the world’s computer systems would hold under the uncertainty of a new millennium. 

That said, I doubt that there is one person who — despite what 2023 has dished out — doesn’t hope 2024 is better. That’s what a new year brings, isn’t it? Hope.

— Hope for better international relations
— Hope for better national unity
— Hope for better local economy
— Hope for better personal situations

When we say we “hope” for these things, what we are saying is we wish they will come true. We have no control over whether or not the do, but we certainly want them to become a reality. Our hope is a wish, uncertain but desired.

But when the Bible speaks of hope, it is the confident expectation of what God has promised. And this hope gets its strength is in His constant faithfulness.

So yes, we can “hope” the circumstances in the world and our lives improve this next year. We can pray that this is the will of God.

But more importantly we can have hope—certainty—of the following:

—That God is our protector and our help and his love is constant (Psalm 33:20-22)
—That God hears us (John 5:14; I John 5:15; Jeremiah 29:12-13; Psalm 66:17-20)
—That He will renew our strength when we grow weary with the struggles of life (Isaiah 40:31)
—That He forgives our sins (Psalm 103:10-12; Acts 2:38-39)
—That Christ will return (I Thessalonians 1:10 + 50 more verses)

There are even more “certainties” we can have in God--more reasons we can place our “hope” in Him. 

As 2024 unfolds, I pray that each day will bring you into a deeper relationship with the God of Hope—the God of Certainties.

One of the qualities that separates us from other animals is our ability to imagine. Only humans can look to the future and dream of something different.  

We know that every creative act is an act of the imagination. Every drawing or book or invention began as a mere spark of an idea that the individual then built upon combining knowledge, contemplation, and imagination.


Courageous acts also have their birth in the imagination. We perceive a better life either for ourselves or our fellow man, and then we take that first step to make it happen.

Because we were made in God’s image, we were made to be creators—to imagine what could be and then, as Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek so famously said, “Make it so”.

There is one very important thing, though, that we must remember when using our imagination. We must keep it under the sovereignty of God.

The Bible warns of the futility of making plans without first submitting them to God since none of us knows what tomorrow will bring. (James 4:13-15). Proverbs 16:9 reminds us that --The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Likewise, imagining the future without a relationship with the God who loves us unconditionally leads either to unchecked pride or hopelessness and despair.

So as you enter this new year, imagine what you would like your life to be this year, then submit it, in all humility to God. Then as you pursue the life you imagine, follow God’s leading with the full assurance that while you may envision a certain future, God knows the one that is best.

Finally, as each year passes, one future event comes ever closer—our face to face meeting with our Savior. Whether it is through our own passing, or His return, what that meeting will be like is one we can’t possibly imagine in full. Bart Millard of MercyMe contemplates this greatest act of the imagination and presents it so wonderfully in his song, “I Can Only Imagine.”

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of a new year. And with it comes all sorts of hopeful expectations. That is how it is with anything new. There is always something exciting about it. It is spotless. Untarnished. Full of possibilities.

But as we have recently learned through the current stress of the supply and demand chain, used can be very valuable too. In fact, in the auto industry, a used car’s value has suddenly skyrocketed.

This escalation in value of used items reminded me of our God, who besides creating brand new things (days, weeks, mercies), takes this whole concept of using used one step further, for He is in the business of renovation––of not just giving value to the used, but taking it and making it new all over again.

Below are just four verses about God’s renovation/replacement program. All of them should give us hope for not only the new year, but our future as well. Happy New . . . and Renew Year.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Isaiah 43:18-19

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

2 Corinthians 4:16-17

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Revelation 21:1-3

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.