Day 2

January 9

Nick Deahl

Revelation 21:4-5 NIV

4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 

“No more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away”. Talk about a wonderful new beginning. Do you notice how the words used in verse 4 are all similar and often mentioned in life’s negative moments? It’s because every negative life throws at us does not matter anymore in the end if Christ is at the center of everything we do. The hard part is keeping Christ in the center of everything we do because we are human and we are sinners. 

Throughout our lives Christ offers us New Beginnings, whether through baptism, trials, people we meet, etc. Sometimes we can see what Christ is wanting us to do in situations and other times we don’t but if we keep Christ at the center, we have the greatest New Beginning of all coming our way. Now the thing I have always heard from people thinking of this is “Well, if I do this I’ll get to Heaven” or “Well, I can’t be perfect so why should I even try”. The great news is only Christ is perfect, and we aren’t expected to be. Heaven isn’t just about checking off boxes, we need to have true faith and a relationship with Christ. We need to be digging into his word daily. Congratulations, you are doing that today! We should be living it though!  If we read His word this morning, we shouldn’t just check it off, but instead we should ask God what you should be getting from what you’ve read and find a way to live it out in your day.

The last piece I want to touch on is verse 5. These “words are trustworthy and true”. The hard part for me with this sentence is I can think of numerous times in my life I’ve heard someone, or I’ve told someone, “Trust me” or “It’s true”. Many times I’ve found out I couldn’t trust what was said or I made something up myself. In school we were always told to write something down when its important. The greatest teacher of them all does the same here. Through our trials we are going to tell ourselves maybe that verse is not true, but God wants to remind us of what he says is true. If we tend to read the same writer or the same column week after week, whether we like it or not, we start to believe that person for who he is. Maybe take that into your daily routine. Write down “Gods words are trustworthy and true”. After a while you just might find yourself having a little more faith. Know that you can trust in God! Nothing he has ever said has been untrue.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the day you’ve made. I thank you for always having your Word for me to turn back to. I thank you for speaking truth in my life, especially in the times I don’t want to hear it. I thank you for forgiving my sins and making me new. I thank you for taking away “death, mourning, crying, and pain”. Help me trust that you will make me new. You will continue to work in me to make me better. Help me to reach my community. Help me to reach outside my community. Help me to share this good news of a new beginning with the world. It’s in your name I pray.  Amen.