Reflecting Back & Looking Forward

The start of a new year is a time of both reflecting back and looking forward.  We think back over successes and mistakes of the previous year and commit to the changes we hope to come in the next year.

We all have the same conversations every year: we’re going to save more, eat better, or balance our time more wisely. We’ll stick to some commitments better than others.  There’s a part of us that wonders why we have these talks every year. I know that even though I say I’ll go to the gym every day, I probably won’t.  But there is always that chance that this will be the year I change.  

In reflecting each year, I’m reminding myself that I’m not whole yet-- that there is still work for the Lord to do in my life. So much of our commitment to Christ is found in the small habits we develop day to day, and January is the time to think about those habits we’d like to change.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12, God’s word tells us that, 

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Ancient mirrors weren’t like ours-- they were made of polished metal (often bronze) and reflected images rather “dimly” as Scripture states.  We’re reminded here that even though we seek to reflect on life and understand ourselves, we won’t have the complete picture until the day when we’re reunited with our King.  I’d like to think that January is the time for me to create change in my life, but it’s not.  It’s a time for me to understand how much I need Christ to make changes.

I look in the mirror and I see myself, but God sees me inside and out.  I write down a to-do the new year and think I’ve taken control of my life, but it is the Lord who has given me one more day to live.  

In January, I’ll see things “dimly,” but there will come a time when “I shall know fully...as I have been fully known.”  I hope we will share in that day together.  What are some changes that the Lord is working on in your life this New Year?

In Him,

Pastor Brian

Egyptian Mirror Image: www.interiorsandsources.com