Title New Year / Genesis 47:8-9
Contents
We are starting the year again now. And you get one year older. When we were young, we expected and looked forward to getting older, but for some reason, getting older is burdensome, embarrassing, and then we are worried, and in the end it becomes futile.
Today we hope this will be a year full of hope and hope, as young children always say at this point, but let us hear the words of our own age-appropriate growth.
Jacob reveals his age and thinks about the course of life for himself. On this day when you think about your own age, you must learn the precepts of life that God has given you. The image of Jacob standing in front of the king of Egypt and counting his age is full of sincerity, wanting to understand the meaning of life God has given him. When you count your age, you can look at your life and make new decisions. This is God's admonition for life to us humans. So the psalmist prayed, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).
1. Overcoming sadness
When you turn your life around, you can inevitably encounter the memories of sadness that lurk in it. Jacob, too, was immersed in the negligence and shame of his youth, the fear and pain of danger, and the great sorrow that these brought. But his sorrow comes from looking back on the things he has done wrong in his life. The fact that he left his hometown and evacuated to his uncle's house is not the fault of Esau or his father, but the result of deceiving his father and coveting his brother's blessing. The fear caused by the quarrel with the family and the fact that the children killed their younger brother are all sad because of their own faults. But this godly sorrow calls for repentance. The difference between man and beast is that he realizes his mistake and regrets it.
Even Paul was sad and ashamed for a long time because of his first error (1 Corinthians 15:9). But such sorrow also gives us the strength to return to God more fully.
As we enter the new year, we should pray to God that the sorrows caused by our mistakes will not be repeated, and we should commit ourselves to God with a promise in our hearts.
2. The Rite of the Traveler
We are strangers looking for a homeland we have not yet reached (Hebrews 11:13-14). Only by being conscious of this can we have sincere faith and hope. It is transformed into a life that rejoices in the midst of persecution and hardship, and strives for an eternal reward.
If a person does not have the consciousness of this traveler's journey, he is said to be immature. It is said that no matter how old you are, you eat in vain. The older you get, the more mature you have to be.
3. Counting the Age of Faith
In addition, we must consider the status and extent of our faith. The age of faith makes us stronger as it increases. Because living faith and hope renew the life of the inner person. “(2 Corinthians 4:16) Therefore, we do not lose heart, for though our outward man perishes, but our inward man is being renewed day by day.”
Who can count the ages of life and have the hopes and hopes and abundance of a young man? Only by thinking of God and the day we go to God will we be able to overcome the various thoughts and loneliness we experience as we grow older.
The end of our lives is when the Lord comes. It is time for us to go to the Lord. How should we live? As the Apostle Paul said, “(1 Corinthians 15:58), there must be an effort of faith to become “steadfast, immovable, always putting forth greater effort in the work of the Lord”.
What is that? How should we respond to the Bible's teachings about the {last days} of the world? Giving up your job, selling all you have, and waiting for the day of the Lord to come while looking at the sky is not a mature image of a saint who expects [the Lord's return]. There is nowhere in the Bible where the saints are encouraged to wait for the Lord in this way.
Do you believe this too? All our efforts on this earth will surely bear fruit if it comes from our obedience to Christ and our zeal. It doesn't matter what you're doing right now. But, {because of Jesus Christ who promised to come again, because of that hope, am I doing this work that is set before me with joy? Am I living as a messenger of Christ who is glorified through the work entrusted to me?} This should be the quiet question we ask ourselves today. While we earnestly hope for God's day today, let's pray that it will be a day to put more effort into the work of the Lord, confident that our labor on this earth will not be in vain.
conclusion
How old are we in faith now? Are you not a spiritual vegetative person whose physical age increases by itself, but the age of faith stays the same? You have to look back.