'Return to God' in New Year 2009

We are at the closing of the year 2008 and the blooming of a fresh new year 2009. It is the perfect juncture to retrospect, make amends and inaugurate the year with a spiritual note.

Many of us might actually regret of what happened in the past, may be the enumerated list of resolutions you failed to keep up? Or the unexpected turn of events in your life that has crippled your optimistic views. Whatever, it may be, it is time to iron out your negative past and juxtapose those events to create an impeccable future.

The Bible says, "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord" (Lamentations 3:40). So as you examine, what would be the best resolution you can make for the New Year? You might have thought of several 'to-do' things in 2009. But what would be the perfect resolution? A resolution that can give you peace and joy, which the world cant constantly give? It would be very injudicious if you disagree with me that the best resolution you can make would be 'to return to the Lord'.

Man is apparently feeble without God. How much ever cozy you try to be, without Christ in our life, all is in vain. Your thoughts and decisions might lead you to disillusionment. Your temporary wealth might lead you to temporary happiness. Your friends' circle might have been very loving, but frankly who can be as 'tenacious' as God? Putting God the second in your life, is apparently aberration.

The book of Jeremiah 29: 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Isaiah 40:31 says: "Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

During this time of chaos, division and greed in the world, Christ is the only future for a peaceful tomorrow. Look to the promises of God and hold fast to them so a 'Christ-centered' life might be rooted in you. The scripture has promised to fulfill, those who seek, knock and ask.

Imagine the lives of those in Orissa's Kandhamal and riot-stricken districts, whose homes have been burnt, whose families have been injured, whose children's future has been jeopardized. They still praise God and pray to him for courage and strength. They constantly pray for their enemies, that God might touch them.

In comparison, don't we have countless things to thank God? Like the lyrics in John Oatman's "Count your Blessings".

"When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

Introspecting your life, looking at what God has done, for sure will surprise you. It is a chief priority for you to ruminate and meditate on Gods love in the past and prayerfully enter 2009. As the verse in Psalm 107:1 says, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever", let us prayerfully enter this New Year seeking God and his guidance.