Chapter One
January 1
* * *
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV
New Year's Day is the oldest of all the holidays we celebrate. Historians
believe it was first observed in ancient Babylon four thousand
years ago. The celebration lasted eleven days, with different traditions
observed on each day. The Babylonians considered the new year to begin in
late March, at the vernal equinox, with the focus on looking ahead to new
crops and new growth.
New Year's Day is a public holiday in the United States and many other
countries. January 1 became generally recognized as the beginning of the year
in the 1500s with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. In the United
States, the holiday is traditionally considered to be a time to take stock of
one's life and to make resolutions for the coming year.
The best way for believers to celebrate each New Year's Day is to resolve
to live more like the new creation that the apostle Paul says we are. Once we
accept the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf, we enter into the New
Covenant and God begins a new work of creation in us. He gives us a new
heart, a new self, and a new song. We're called to have new attitudes and a
new lifestyle. As we grow, God brings new opportunities for service and
teaches us new truths.
We also get a new future. As we read Revelation, we can take comfort in
thinking about the time when God will right all wrongs, heal all hurts, and
give us a new name and a new home. With the arrival of each new year, we
get closer to the Ancient of Days, who promises, "Look, I am making everything
new!" (Revelation 21:5).
What new thing does God want to do in your life this year?
January 2
* * *
Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes-these are not for you.
Ephesians 5:4
Each New Year's Day, Lake Superior State University releases its
annual "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use,
Over-Use and General Uselessness." The tongue-in-cheek list was initiated
in 1976 by then Public Relations Director Bill Rabe as a publicity stunt
for the university.
Although Rabe retired in 1987, the school has copyrighted the concept
and carried on the popular tradition. Throughout the year people around the
world nominate hundreds of words and phrases that they feel should be
purged from the English language. The new banishment list is released each
January 1 and posted on the university's Web site (www.lssu.edu/banished).
Recent winners include "user friendly," "you know," and "have a nice day."
Many words that were once banished from polite society have now
become embedded in mainstream American language. Television networks
embrace obscenities and sexual innuendos. Many song lyrics blare out blatantly
filthy language no longer considered disgusting. Many of us have gradually
become desensitized to language that once offended us. The results can
be heard even on elementary school playgrounds, where R-rated talk is not
uncommon. Coarse joking has even seeped into church gatherings.
Even in days before media influences, obscenity was a problem. Paul
found it necessary to address this issue with the Colossian Christians, advising
them to get rid of all dirty language (Colossians 3:8). He warned the
believers at Ephesus that obscene stories and coarse jokes were improper for
God's holy people (Ephesians 5:4). The society around us may lower its standards,
but we must keep our speech purged of anything that doesn't meet
God's standards. When he shares his "banished list," he doesn't give it tongue
in cheek.
January 3
* * *
[There is] one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.
Ephesians 4:6
In January 1999, eleven European Union countries (later twelve)
locked in the value of their national currencies at a permanent conversion
rate to the euro. Euro bills and coins began circulating in January
2002 and by March became the sole currency of twelve of the fifteen EU
member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,
Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.
The introduction of the euro was the final step in the EU's plan to
establish a common currency and a single monetary authority for EU states.
Advocates believe the move will strengthen Europe's standing as an economic
power, increase international trade, simplify monetary transactions,
and result in pricing equality throughout Europe.
Believers, too, have much in common, even though we often focus on
our differences, such as social and economic distinctions. Disagreements over
issues like music and worship styles can split us. Ephesians 4:4-6 is a call to
remember whom we have in common. We have the same God ruling over us,
living in us, and working through us. We share a conversion experience in
our past and look forward to a common future.
In his final hours, Jesus prayed that his followers and all future believers
would be one as he and the Father are one (John 17:20-21). A sense of oneness
is necessary for the work and the witness of the church to be effective.
We can achieve this supernatural feat only by focusing on the fact that Jesus
didn't die for certain denominations or countries; he died for the world. Even
where nations have different currencies to pay for purchases, all true believers
have the same Savior who purchased our salvation.
January 4
* * *
We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who
love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28
Louis Braille was born on this day in 1809 in Coupvray, France. At
age three, he was permanently blinded by an accident with a leather-making
awl in his father's saddlery. When Braille was fifteen, he began revising
a method of writing that had been developed for trench warfare communication
by army captain Charles Barbier. Barbier's system was rejected by
the military as too complex, but Braille hoped it could be useful for blind
people. Ironically, he used an awl-like stylus to make small, raised dots on
paper that could be felt and interpreted. This system was not officially
accepted until after Braille died in poverty in 1852. Today it is universally
accepted for all written languages and for mathematics, science, and
computer notation.
We seem to be surrounded by senseless tragedies like the accident that
blinded Braille in his childhood. In the Old Testament, Joseph's jealous
brothers sold him into slavery. He was falsely accused of attempted rape and
spent years in prison. Yet he rose to become the second-most-powerful person
in Egypt and saved many nations during a time of great famine. Joseph later
assured his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for
good" (Genesis 50:20).
The rebellion of Satan and the fall of man have marred the perfect world
God created, opening the way for evil to infect our daily lives. But we serve a
God who can bring great good out of great evil. He often uses our deepest
wounds to do the most powerful work in us. As believers, we have the promise
that he is working out all things-even our hurts, disappointments, and
tragedies-for our good and his glory.
What painful situation has God used for good in your life?
January 5
* * *
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things.
Revelation 4:11
George Washington Carver died on this day in 1943. The former slave
had become a renowned scientist, internationally recognized for his
agricultural research, and was honored with numerous awards. Carver spent
much of his career at what is now Tuskegee University, where he focused on
helping farmers improve crop production and taught more-efficient agricultural
practices through conferences, demonstrations, lectures, and traveling
exhibits.
Carver is especially noted for creating more than three hundred products
from peanuts, such as a milk substitute, printer's ink, and soap. He also developed
over seventy-five products from pecans and more than a hundred products
from sweet potatoes, including flour, shoe polish, and candy. Carver's
work convinced many southern farmers to grow these crops instead of cotton,
providing them with new sources of income.
It's amazing to think that someone could create three hundred useful
products from a peanut! It's also impossible for our finite minds to grasp the
fact that God created everything we see from nothing. The book of Genesis
tells us how he started from scratch and created the infinite variety in our
world and beyond simply with spoken commands. Revelation gives us a
glimpse of heavenly creatures praising God and declaring that he is worthy
to receive honor because he created all things.
Since we are created in God's image, we have an inherent creative drive.
We find fulfillment in expressing our creativity, whether it's in our job, our
hobbies, the arts, or creative solutions to problems. Any creative act we perform
is an act of worship for the One who placed that spark in us. Such a
Creator can, and will, create something amazing out of our life.
January 6
* * *
Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
Today is National Smith Day, a special day to commemorate the most
common surname in English-speaking countries. This date is appropriate
because it is the baptism date of one of the earliest Smiths in America,
Captain John Smith, who led the group of English colonists settling in Jamestown,
Virginia, in 1607.
Today there are almost two and a half million Smiths in the United
States. National Smith Day salutes individuals, organizations, and businesses
that bear the name Smith or some variation, such as Goldsmith, Arrowsmith,
and Coopersmith.
Sometimes it's easy to feel lost in the crowd, just an ordinary face in a
multitude of human beings. We may feel as if we're nothing special to anyone
-including the One who created us along with billions of others. But
God knows each one of us individually and so intimately that he can tell the
very number of hairs on our head. To him, each person on earth is precious
enough to die for, and he longs to have a close relationship with us.
Even if we're one in a crowd of people with the same name, to our Father
we are unique. The Creator of the universe has chosen us and called us by
name to be his adopted children. He is constantly aware of our thoughts, feelings,
and needs. He always knows the details of the circumstances in our life.
We may sometimes see ourselves as just another face in the crowd, but since
he has called us by our name, we are now called by his name-and that's the
greatest name anyone could ever have.
January 7
* * *
Each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment.
Hebrews 9:27
January 7, 1979, saw the downfall of Pol Pot, one of the cruelest dictators
in history. His brutal reign began in 1975, when he and his
Communist guerilla forces (called the Khmer Rouge) overthrew the Cambodian
government. As prime minister, Pol Pot removed the population of the
capital city, Phnom Penh, to collective farms, where tens of thousands died
from starvation, disease, and slave labor in what came to be known as "the
killing fields." The Khmer Rouge also tortured and executed many more,
including government officials, intellectuals, and religious leaders. In all,
more than one and a half million Cambodians died under Pol Pot's rule.
When Vietnamese troops overthrew Pol Pot's government, he fled to the
jungles, where he spent the remainder of his life. While international human
rights activists were working to have him extradited to face charges of crimes
against humanity, Pol Pot died of natural causes on April 15, 1998.
It seems so unfair when a person responsible for so much evil dies without
being held accountable for his atrocities. He may have escaped human
justice, but there is no escape from our ultimate Judge. God has promised to
bring every deed into judgment, even the secret things (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
We will all be judged one day, believers at the judgment seat of Christ
and unbelievers at God's Great White Throne Judgment described in Revelation
20. Anyone whose name is not found written in the Book of Life will be
thrown into the lake of fire. No matter how much people get away with in
this life, they can't escape from the Lord, who says, "I will take revenge; I will
pay them back" (Deuteronomy 32:35).
(Continues.)
