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QUESTION 17:
What about New Year's resolutions, are they right?

ANSWER:
Resolutions are always plentiful at that time of the year. They usually last a week or two and then they are over. They mark out a new beginning for a new year. The Bible has much to say about new beginnings. "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2. This marked out a new start for the children of Israel. They had been many years in Egypt, as slaves. Their lives were hard and bitter. God saved and delivered them by the blood of a lamb, and they went out that night on their journey to the Promised Land.

In the New Testament we have a new beginning in Christ. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. When you turn away from sin in true repentance and trust, and you have Christ as your Saviour, you have a brand new beginning. Your sins are blotted out and you are delivered from them.

You are on a journey to the Promised Land. This beginning is quite different from that of the New Year's resolution. In this, "all things are of God,..." 2 Corinthians 5:18. He is the workman. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13. Christ has done a work FOR YOU at the cross. He now wants to do a work IN YOU. This He cannot do until you turn from your sins and trust Him as your Saviour. Will you do that now? Tomorrow, may be too late!

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen