Reformátusok Lapja, 1970 (70. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1970-01-01 / 1. szám

Hungarian Reformed Religious Paper

Founded in 1900

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE CALVIN SYNOD—UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

Don’t Carry The Burdens Of Tomorrow

God broke our years into hours and days,

That hour by hour, and day by day,

Just going on a little way,

We might be able, all along,

To keep quite strong.

Should all the weight of life be laid Across our shoulders at just one place,

And the future, rife with woe and struggle,

Meet us face to face;

We could not go;

Our feet would stop, and so God lays a little on us every day.

And never, I believe, in all life's way,

Will burdens bear so deep,

Or pathways lie so steep,

But we can go, if, by God’s power,

We only bear the burden of the hour.

Author Unknown

WHAT IS NEW IN THE NEW YEAR?

As you start this New Year, let me ask a simple question: Do you find this year really new? Is this day basically different than any other day? I wonder if you agree with the poet who wrote “What makes the New Year new? Not resolutions lightly made, or worthless dreams born to fade; but faith in Christ instead of fate, more room for God and less for hate; the world receives its second birth when God through Christ controls the earth. This makes a New Year new.” But whether you agree or not with this poem, the word of God assures us that things do not make the new year really new. It is only God who is able to make all things new. This is what we read in the book of Revelations, “He who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’.”

You see God can renew our opportunities. Do you remember Jonah who ran away when God told him to go to Nineveh and was almost lost on the road of disobedience. But after three frightening days “The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time” as we read in the Scripture. God gave Jonah a second chance, just as he gave one to Peter after his denial, and just as

he gives you renewed opportunities. And God often renews men at the very point at which they have sinned and failed. Do not run away, therefore, from the difficulties, but ask in it the renewing grace of God, and you will see he is able to make all things new.

Not only old things can God renew, but he is able to create new things. He says “Behold the former things are come to pass and new things do I declare.” (Isaiah 42:9) In the valley of sorrow and death He can create joy and gladness, in the place of pride and sin He can create humbleness and purity. He can change rulers, men and people and cities and villages as He pleases. Nothing is impossible for Him. He who created heaven and earth, can create a new heaven and new earth, as we read in the Scriptures, “For, behold I create new heavens and new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

Not only outward things can the Lord renew but also our inward being. “A new heart will I give you,” we read in the Bible, “And a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.” (Ezek. 36:27) The spirit of selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, worry and competition, He can replace by love, patience, trust and hope. As Paul expressed it “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” This is the miracle of the New Testament, the new covenant which our Father established in our Lord Jesus Christ.

What should we say then? Choice and not chance make the New Year really new. If we are waiting for new chances we will be disappointed, but if we choose to follow Jesus Christ then all things will become new for us. May the Lord grant to us this grace today and in the days to come.

☆

Almighty God, Lord of all time and of eternity, grant us thy grace to live in the newness of life in the time of our earthly pilgrimage; and since thy mercies are ever new, help us to look forward with joy and expectation to the days that lie ahead. Whatever the year holds for us, prepare us by humility and reverence to handle wisely the circumstances which fall to our lot, that in all things we may find thee who maketh all things new. In the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Dr. John Butosi