Happy New Year! Did you have a large celebration ringing in the New Year? I was privileged to spend the time with family and friends who are like family to me. We shared a fabulous meal around the table and then sat sharing stories and laughter. I was home in time to watch the big apple fall in New York City.
A new year is a time of new beginnings. What do you want from 2011? Did you make any resolutions? I want to know God more. I want to believe God for more. I want Him to increase in my life and I want to decrease, so His will is done.
One of the things I want to do is to really read the Bible. I don’t mean just read the verses so I can check off that I spent time in the Word. I want to absorb what I read. I want it to impact me, to shake me. I want to be different because I read something from God.
This morning I was reading the story of Noah, which begins in Genesis 6. I was blown away by several things I read. In Genesis 6:8 I read “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” I began asking myself how? What did Noah do that found favor with the Lord? I want to do what Noah did. I want to find favor with the Lord, don’t you?
Verse 9 tells us “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Well, I know for certain I’m not blameless, so that’s one strike against me. I would have to stop right there if it weren’t for Jesus. Ephesians 1:4-6 says “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will– to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.” God knew I couldn’t be blameless on my own, so He made a way for me through Jesus.
Righteous? Romans 3:10 tells us “There is no one righteous, not even one” so where does that leave us? Fortunately, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
It’s obvious God wants us to be favored. He has made provision for us to be blameless and righteous. Through Jesus, we can be both things, but it requires something of us. We must walk with God. We can’t even do that in our own strength. Even the Apostle Paul had this struggle [Romans 7:15]. However, God in His wisdom and grace made provision in Jesus. Philippians 4:13 tells me “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Jesus….He is the answer to all we need. He is the answer to all we desire. He is the solution to my desire to live a life that is favored in the eyes of the Lord. He can be your answer to, if you let Him.
Happy New Year to you. May it be said you found favor in the eyes of the Lord this year and always.