New Year, Same God
by John Sainsbury
May I begin by wishing you a very “Happy New Year!” I don’t know about you, but I always begin a new year with a certain amount of hope. I’m not one for making new year’s resolutions; time and experience has persuaded me that the turning of the annual dial isn’t really going to make that much difference. If I’d really wanted something to be different, then I’d have acted on it without waiting for the change of date. However, the desire for a fresh start, a new opportunity to ‘have another go’, is a common feeling. Otherwise, why else would we make so much of what is ultimately just another day?
Yet, there is still hope. I guess, as we turn to a new calendar, and we get used to writing 2024 rather than 2023, there is that obvious sense that the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). As I’ve pondered this new start, I am actually relieved that something never changes; or perhaps better Someone!
As the writer of Hebrews tells us, ‘Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever!’
No matter what changed in 2023, nor what will change in 2024, Jesus is always good, always loving, always powerful. Our God is a consistent God. I like the way James frames it when he writes of the One from whom every good and perfect gift comes, and who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). Of course, shadows shift because of the passing of time. But God does not change, because He is eternal. He is the One who was, who is, and who is to come (Revelation 1:4).
So, whatever may come our way this year, whatever struggles we may face, whatever joys we may celebrate, we can be sure of this: the One who made the instruments of time (Genesis 1:16-18) is the One who travels through it with us. We did not leave Him behind in 2023, but He is with us in every moment of all that lies ahead in 2024. The God who is with us (Isaiah 7:14) is with us always, even until the end of time itself (Matthew 28:20).
John Sainsbury and his wife Sue are part of the leadership team at Ellel Grange. John has served as a church leader for many years, most recently as Lead Pastor of the Garstang Free Methodist Church. He has a passion for seeing many brought into the fulness of life that following Christ brings.
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