It's a New Year and a time to change the things we didn't like about ourselves last year, and strengthen those we want to grow! Most
of us set goals or resolutions for ourselves for the new year. Starting off
with a "clean slate" is the best way to obey God's Word. God offers
forgiveness through Jesus Christ and "cleanses us from all
unrighteousness". Accept His forgiveness and consider applying
the teaching and wisdom from the following verses.
Luke 5:30-32 - But the Pharisees and the teachers of
the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat
and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Jesus answered them, “It is not
the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
John 8:1-11 - But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered
around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the
Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the
group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They
were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When
they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one
of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he
stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away
one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman
still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are
they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I
condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
1 Corinthians 6:11 - And that is what some of you
were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 - But as for you, continue in what
you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom
you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.
Apply the Word to your new year's resolutions. It
will change your world!