Behold: What’s the #1 Way to Have a Happy “Old” Year?

Hey there, Team! Happy New Year!

New, new, new. Isn’t “new” everyone’s focus right now? New year, new me, new body, new relationships, new goals?

Super. I can get with new. I’ve got some newness in motion for myself this year!

With so much newness in the air, wouldn’t it be a shame to actually have a Happy Old Year? Ugh.

Let’s face it. We are straight out of the gates preparing for Daniel Fasts, clearing out old e-mails and contacts, cleaning our houses, desks, taking clothes to Goodwill, reading our Bibles daily, and spending quality time in prayer the first week of the year – who’s got time to ring in an “old” year?

Not you, not me, nor the rest of Team Jesus! But, we do it every year, most times with the same good intentions we have in our hands now, why?

What Every New Thing and New Year Needs

The Word of God in Isaiah 43:19 NIV says, “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.”

When you read this verse, do you “see” the heavy emphasis placed on seeing, perceiving what God is doing? Seeing, beholding the works of God is the key to newness. Those who eventually find themselves having a Happy Old Year may not be far-sighted, or near-sighted – but could they possibly suffer from being SELF-sighted?

Self-sightedness occurs when we blur our sight with more of us and less of God – when our wants, needs, desires, goals, plans, strategies override what God has for us.

When we are self-sighted, we often hear loud and clear that God is up to something new, but we go looking for it in places and people that are, frankly – old, safe, and familiar.

See What God Saw

It’s a sad thing, Team, to have newness springing up all around us – and miss it because our focus is out of place. Have you slipped off God’s lenses and decided to see the world for yourself? Or worse yet, have we allowed others to put drops of doubt in our eyes, blurring God’s new thing into a masterful bokeh effect? We see the Light, but it’s out of focus.

Just as we are precious in God’s sight (Isaiah 43:4), we have to hold the sight of God (what God sees) just as precious to us!

So, What’s the Play Call?

Want to really have a happy NEW year? Blind yourself! Die to the expectations and the will of your Self. Accept and adopt the lens from which God sees and does His new thing in us so that we can actually “see” it. And, once we are able to see it, we can then participate, cooperate, and celebrate with God’s new thing as it springs forth – every day!

We love you, Team, and are praying that you SEE God’s “new things” in store for you this year and always. BEHOLD!