A New Year - A New Life

Starting a new year with a desire for a new life requires more than just a wish to make everything new. It requires a deep cleaning that goes to the marrow of our wills and our beings. Here is the colorful description of what we need to come clean by the Psalmist:

Generous in love—God, give grace!
    

Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.


Scrub away my guilt,
    

soak out my sins in your laundry.


I know how bad I’ve been;
   

my sins are staring me down.

You’re the One I’ve violated,

and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil.


You have all the facts before you;
    

whatever you decide about me is fair.


I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
    

in the wrong since before I was born.


What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
    

Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    

scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. –Psalm 51:1-6 (The Message)

This is the promise of God’s gift: God wants to give you a clean new start for the new year. Take the above words and read them to God – let them be your words of confession and renewal. – Ron Friesen