A New Beginning!

 

By Hazel Holland

Before each one of us stretches a new year.  The old year is almost over and the new is about to begin.  So I would invite you to join me in choosing to let go of all the things that keep you trapped in the past... like regrets and resentments and self-righteous attitudes that prevent others from getting close to you.  I would invite you to offer apologizes where necessary, and to make amends so that relationships can be restored.

So how will you choose to live this new year?  Will you accept God's gift of forgiveness that He extends to you with an open hand, and then offer this same gift to others?  Will you acknowledge God's gift of righteousness that is already yours by faith in His finished work, and then share it with those who don't know? 

As you choose God's way of living life in this new year, He has promised to fill you with His Spirit so that you will choose to love others as He has loved you.  As you humbly admit your own weaknesses, He will be your tower of strength and lift you up in your time of need.  As you look to the cross you will be reminded that God reached down and took a hold of your hand before you ever reached out to Him.  He gave  you the greatest gift of all--Himself!

So let's begin living this new year with the brand new heart God has given us.  Let's remember that we are daily being changed into His likeness.  So that means there is always room for growth.  Although we may rest in the assurance that our sins have been forgiven that does not release us from being accountable to one another for our behavior.  Being reconciled to one another is a beautiful thing that happens to us as a result of God's gift of repentance.

So how are you and I going to live life in this new year?  In the light of His presence?  Forever grateful to God for His ultimate gift of love to us--Himself?  Yes!  And forever thankful for new beginnings!♥

Active Participants of Grace ♥

By Hazel Holland

Is there anything more contrary to the Christian spirit than having an unforgiving heart?  You know the scenario... when we choose to hold on to a grudge, or refuse to speak to another Christian unless they make the first move. 

The truth is... if we say that we have forgiven the person who offended or hurt us, we cannot at the same time continue to behave coldly towards them.  When we display cold love we deny the One whose name we profess to know.

As the old year ends and the new year is ushered in, why don't we determine in our hearts to let go of all vestiges of resentment, and all our attempts to get even.  Instead, let's hold up others before God in prayer that he might restore both them and us to His grace.  Let's allow the Holy Spirit to enable us to be active participants of God's grace and forgiveness.♥

Choose Love

By Hazel Holland

 

Whenever a terrible tragedy like this happens immediately the issue of gun control laws comes up.  And it should.  But isn't what happened yesterday at Sandy Hook Elementary School bigger than banning the right for innocent people to buy and own guns?

Shouldn't it be more about limiting the types of firearms that can be legally purchased in our society?  Most importantly, shouldn't we be making sure that people who suffer from mental health problems are prevented from ever gaining access to guns?  Shouldn't  this be at the top of our list?

Clearly the whole mental health issue needs to be addressed by our health care system and our local governments because it's not working.  For the last few years far too many people who have mental illnesses are falling through the cracks.  Far too many people who need professional help are hurting others in horrific ways.

Isn't it way past time for us to humbly admit that we don't have easy answers?  Doesn't our society need to set up better boundaries to prevent mentally disturbed people from hurting others?  Isn't it way past time for us to come together as a people and place everything on the table as we search for solutions and ways to protect the lives of the innocent?  Especially our precious children! 

Since God has given each one of us the right to free will, this means that we each have an opportunity to hurt or love others.  Although we can't reverse the unimaginable heartache that people are experiencing right now, we each have an opportunity to improve the daily lives of those around us by choosing to show love to them.

Let's decide right now that by God's grace we will choose to improve the lives of those around us by never using our free will to hurt other people.  Instead, we will choose love.♥

The Way of His Kingdom

By Hazel Holland

 

It's easy for us to see the daily conflict that continues to escalate in the Middle East.  Each side accuses the other side of  being the bad guy... the one who started the most recent problem.  Numerous times a day we witness this rhetoric as news anchors relate the latest fallout to establishing any lasting peace in the Middle East.

Obviously the world's ways of trying to establish peace in the Middle East are not working.  That's because peace in this world does not come through violence but through sacrifice.  Peace does not come through taking sides, but through being on His side.  Peace does not come through picking up a sword, but by picking up a cross!  God's plan is not for one nation to be lifted up above another, but for all nations and all people to find their healing in the One who has already been lifted up.  

Having said that, I am reminded that it's far easier for us to recognize the daily conflict going on in the Middle East than it is to acknowledge the daily conflict present within our own lives.  We want our families to take our side.  We insist on pointing our fingers at one another as we hold on to unforgiveness and justifiable wounding.  We want those who have hurt us to pay...  We don't want to have to acknowledge our own failures or our own unloving and unforgiving attitudes.  We'd rather pick up a sword than a cross.

It's easy to see how the way of the world teaches us to take sides.  But the way of God's kingdom calls us to take the side of cross-shaped forgiveness.  Clearly the world does not have the answer that will bring peace and healing to the Middle East.  Neither does the world have the answer that will bring peace and healing to our families or our hearts.

The battles and wars that we fight in this world (whether real or imagined) only prolong the peace that we all earnestly seek.  So let's lay down our weapons, especially during this Christmas season, and seek to be reconciled to those we have hurt or offended within our own families.  Let's let the Prince of Peace bring His love and peace to our hearts as together we seek the way of His kingdom .♥