Walking Into the New Year with Christ (Ep 147)

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Jason: Thank you for listening and welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Jason McConnell. Happy New Year everyone. Isn't there something powerful about turning a page on a calendar? I mean, that's assuming you still use a paper calendar. There's new dates, empty squares in a sense that maybe just maybe this year can be different.

We talk about fresh starts, clean slates, new beginnings, gyms fill up, planners get bought, and man, I'm really showing my age there and promises get made. Here's the truth that I want us anchored in right from the start. Our hope for a new year isn't found in a vision of ourself. It's found in a faithful God who never changes.

Some of you might be stepping into this new year, excited and hopeful. Others may be a little tired, wounded, or carrying some extra burdens. Maybe last year didn't turn out the way you prayed. Maybe you're starting the year with some unanswered questions, lingering doubts, or a heart that's heavier than you expected.

And yet God meets us here and scripture reminds us of this in one of my favorite verses, Lamentations three verses 22 through 23. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great. Is your faithfulness, did you catch that every morning?

Not every January. Not when we finally get ourselves together every morning in Hallelujah. For that. That means that today, right now, God's mercy is already fresh for you. His grace hasn't expired, his patience hasn't worn thin. His faithfulness didn't take a vacation last year when things got hard. This New year isn't about pretending the past didn't happen.

It's about trusting that God is bigger than what did happen. So as we begin this journey together, I want you to hear this very clearly. You are not starting alone and you are not staying empty handed. You are starting with a God who goes before you, walks beside you and promises to never leave you. So today we're not just opening a new year, we're opening our hearts to what God wants to do next.

So let's step into it together.

[: 00:02:19

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ners, for an amazing year. In: 2025

ners compared to last year to: 2024

t the word out and let's make: 2026

[: 00:03:21

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Jason: I kind of wanna go big here. Let's talk about God as the author of our new beginnings, because one of the biggest misunderstandings we carry into the new year is this idea that new beginnings start with us, with our effort, our discipline, our ability to do better this time. But scripture tells a very different story from the very first page of the Bible.

We see that God is the initiator, the creator, the author of all new beginnings. The Bible doesn't open with any sort of human achievement. It opens with divine action. In Genesis one verse one, we read in the beginning, God created the heaven, heavens, and the earth. Before there was structure, before there was order, before there was light, there was God.

Creation itself is proof that God specializes in starting something beautiful out of what looks like chaos, and here's why that matters for us. God has never been intimidated by a mess. Not a dark void, not a broken nation, not a fractured heart, and certainly not your past or mine. Throughout scripture, God repeatedly steps into moments that feel like endings, and he turns them into a new beginning.

[: 00:04:28

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Jason: I mean, think about Noah. The world was drowning in sin. Literally, judgment had come and it looked like the end of everything, but God wasn't done. He preserved a family, gave them dry ground, and painted the sky with a rainbow of his promise. Think about Israel slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. No power, no future, no voice.

And yet God heard their cries. He split seas shattered chains and led them into freedom. What looked like the end of hope became the beginning of a nation. And God says something quite profound through the prophet Isaiah that speaks directly to us today in Isaiah 43 verses 18 and 19. He declares. Forget the former things.

Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing new things now. It springs up. Do you not perceive it? Notice God doesn't say the past didn't matter. He says, don't dwell there. Why? Because he is already work at your future. He's already working on what comes next. For some of us, the hardest part of stepping into a new beginning is believing we're allowed to.

I mean, we'll think after what I've done, after what I've been through, after how many times I've failed. Surely God is finished with me. But hear this, failure has never disqualified anyone. God has called Moses had a murder in his past. David had adultery and blood on his hands. Peter denied Jesus three times and still became a pillar of the church.

God doesn't erase their stories. No, they don't go away, but he redeems them. That means, that means he can redeem yours too. A new beginning with God doesn't mean starting over from scratch. It means starting over from grace, and maybe today your new beginning isn't something dramatic. It's not a life overhaul.

Maybe it's simply choosing to trust God again. Maybe it's laying down shame. Maybe it's opening your Bible when you're been avoiding it, or just feel too busy to read it. Maybe it's praying an honest prayer. Instead of trying to make it polished and fancy. So as we move forward into this year, remember this truth, your story is not over and God is not finished.

He's still writing, he's still creating, and he's still the author of all New Beginnings, and I know what you might be thinking. If God is the author of New Beginnings, where does that new beginning actually start?

[: 00:06:57

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Jason: Then the answer might surprise you. It's not gonna start with better habits, stronger willpower, or more disciplined routine New life starts with a new identity.

One of the, one of the mistakes we make, especially at the start of a new year, is trying to act like a new person without first believing we are one. We chase behavior change before heart transformation, but faith doesn't work from the outside in. It works from the inside out. The apostle Paul explains this in two Corinthians five, verse 17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here. Now notice Paul isn't saying if you try harder, if you clean up your act, he's just saying anyone in Christ identity proceeds behavior. I'll say that again. Identity proceeds behavior. When you place your faith in Jesus, something fundamental, fundamentally changes about who you are.

You don't just get forgiven, you get reborn. You're not patched up. You're made new. This means you are no longer defined by your worst mistake, your past addiction, your family history, your failures, or labors. No, you are defined by Christ. Paul reminds us of this again in Romans eight verse one. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for who?

For those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, not less, not delayed. No condemnation yet. So many of us wanna step into the new year wearing those same old name tags. I'm a failure. I'm too broken. I'm always struggling with this. That's just who I am. When Jesus calls you his, he gives you a new name, child of God, forgiven, redeemed, free, and this shift in identity changes everything.

You don't fight sin because you're trying to earn God's love. You fight sin because you already have God's love. You don't pursue holiness to be accepted. You pursue holiness because you are accepted. Once again, we'll go back to Paul as he explains this in Galatians two, verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in, the body I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's identity. Christ lives in you. For new believers, especially this, this is crucial to understand. Following Jesus doesn't mean pretending you're okay or pretending you've got it together. It means trusting that Jesus will hold you together while he's transforming you a little bit day by day.

And let me say this as gently as I can. You're gonna struggle still because growth is a process. Sanctification takes time. But struggle doesn't mean failure. It just means you're alive. But the enemy wants you to believe that because you still wrestle. With these addictions, with these habits, with these behaviors, whatever it is he wants you to believe, you really haven't changed.

But scripture is telling us the opposite. The struggle is, is often proof that something has changed. Look at Jacob for a moment. In Genesis chapter 32, Jacob literally, literally wrestles with God through the night. Now understand this isn't a moment of rebellion for him, it's a moment of desperation.

Jacob is afraid he's broken, and he's desperate for blessing, and he refuses to let go. Genesis 32, verse 26 says, then the man said, let me go for his daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Now, Jacob walks away limping. But he also walks away change. God gives him a new name.

Israel. The wrestling didn't disqualify Jacob. It marked him. It transformed him. The struggle became the place where God reshaped his identity. And sometimes, sometimes we get a limb from that. Sometimes that hurts. That transformation leaves a mark, but it's a reminder that God has made us new. Sometimes God doesn't remove the struggle immediately because he's using it to deepen our dependence on him.

I mean, consider Paul one of the greatest apostles in scripture. I mean, if every anyone should have been free from struggle, surely it was him, right? Yet Paul openly talks about his own weakness and second Corinthians 12 verses seven through nine, Paul described a thorn in his flesh flesh that God did not remove even after repeated prayer.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. God didn't say, Paul, you need to try harder. He said, Paul, lean in deeper. Paul's struggles. Didn't mean God had abandoned him, and meant God was at working, was at work in him teaching him humility, dependence, and grace.

The thorn kept Paul close to Christ. So I want you to listen really closely to this, A faith that wrestles is a living faith. Dead faith doesn't struggle, comfortable, faith doesn't wrestle, but growing faith does. So when you feel the tension, when obedience feels costly, when temptation still knocks, when surrender isn't easy, that doesn't mean you're failing.

It means the spirit is actively shaping you. That's why as you step into this new year, don't just ask, what do I want to do differently? Ask the deeper question, who does God say I am? Now, because God doesn't define you by the battle, you are defined by his blessing, not by your weakness, but by his grace.

Not by the struggle, but by the Savior who walks with you through it all. You are no longer who you were. You're being formed into who God is calling you to be. And sometimes the wrestling, that's just part of the blessing. So this year won't begin with a checklist. It begins with a confession. I am in Christ and I am made new.

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Jason: So one of the greatest obstacles to embracing this new beginning in Christ isn't what happens in the future. It's the past. We carry all those memories, mistakes, failures, and moments that we wish we could rewrite. And if we're honest, many of us drag those into every new year, like luggage. We never wanna check in.

But God never intended you for your past to be the prison that shapes your future. The Apostle Paul understood this struggle better than most. Before he planted the church and wrote scripture, Paul persecuted Christians, he attacked the very faith he would later die to defend if anyone had reason to be haunted by the past.

It was certainly Paul, and yet he writes in Philippians three, uh, verses 13 through 14. Brothers and sisters. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining forward is what is what is ahead. I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heaven word in Christ Jesus.

Again, Paul's not suggesting the past never happened. What he's saying is I refuse to let it define my direction from this point forward. Let's break this down a little bit, forgetting what lies behind. Now forget, in this context doesn't mean erasing the memories, like literally forgetting at like sudden onset amnesia.

It means refusing to give your past the authority to frame your identity, your calling, and your hope. Some of you are still carrying words spoken over you that were never true. Shame from sins. Jesus already forgave regret from decisions you made before you knew better guilt that God has already placed under the blood of Christ and hurt from people who wounded you.

All of that past becomes heavy when we allow it to sit in the driver's seat. Jesus didn't die for you to keep revisiting what he already buried. But let's move on to straining towards what is ahead. This language is intentional straining, pressing on new beginnings required for require forward momentum, not backward dwelling, and let's be honest, that forward momentum, that motion is often uncomfortable.

It demands trust. It asks us to release the familiar pain for unfamiliar grace. It's like, it's like a divine trust fall. And, and I don't know why we hold onto it, but we do something that is horrible in our past. We wanna hold onto, we clinging to it like a friend, like a family member, like something we're afraid to let go of.

But you have to, you have to let it go in a and and hold onto that grace. But here's the promise. God is always in your future. He's never in just your past. He doesn't meet you where you used to be. He meets you where you are and guides you to where you're going next, and the enemy is gonna use that past to paralyze you.

If God uses redemption to propel you, for the enemy, uses accusations to pull you backward. Revelation calls Satan, the the accuser, not the reminder. He wants to chain you to shame, so you'll never discover that grace. He whispers things like, you're not good enough. You'll never change. Remember that thing you did.

You're not qualified to be that person, but those are lies and, and the cross exposes them. Look at Psalms 1 0 3 verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. God doesn't hold your past over your head. He separates you from it. God redeems your past. He doesn't waste it.

The enemy wants your past to be this weight, this heaviness. God wants you, wants it to be your testimony. Your scars become stories of grace. Your failures become proof of God's patience and your journey becomes someone else's hope. Think about the woman at the well. Her past was, was messy, public, and painful, but Jesus used her story to reach an entire village in John chapter four.

new eyes. You can't walk into: 2026

Maybe today's that day that you finally lay it down. Not because the year has changed, but because Jesus has already changed. You understand that leaving the past behind us is an act of worship. Releasing shame is worship, surrendering. Regret is worship. Trusting God with what you cannot change is worship.

You honor Jesus because you believe his forgiveness is bigger than your failure.

[: 00:18:35

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Jason: As we step into this new year, most of us are surrounded by the language of resolutions. Do better, try harder, be more disciplined. And while there's nothing wrong with having goals, there's an honest truth. We need to, we need to be aware of.

Resolutions usually fail because they depend on willpower, but spiritual growth depends on surrender. We aren't called to white knuckle our way into holiness. He calls us to walk with him. That's why instead of chasing resolutions, that burnout by February scripture invites us into new rhythms, daily grace filled patterns that keep us connected to God over the long haul.

Jesus himself modeled this. He lived a life of intentional rhythm, time with the Father, time in the community, time and service, and time at rest, and he invites us to do the same. In Matthew six, verse 33, Jesus says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

He didn't say seek perfectly, he said, seek me first. Rhythm over perfection. So again, why do resolutions fail? Well, they tend to focus on outcomes. I'm gonna read the Bible for an hour every day. I'm gonna pray more. I'm gonna stop sinning in this area. Without relationship, those goals quickly become burdens, weights that we can't carry.

When motivation fades, guilt takes over, and eventually we just quit. Spiritual rhythms. On the other hand, focus on connection. Spending consistent time in God's word, even if it's briefly talking to God, honestly, not impressively. Staying rooted in a Christian community, creating space to rest in God's presence.

ause Jesus reminds us in Luke: 1610

Once a week. A simple prayer whispered in the car makes just as much matters, just as much as a long prayer. In a quiet room, God honors faithfulness far more than intensity. That's my opinion, of course, but be sure to walk with the spirit, not by self effort, because growth doesn't come from trying harder.

It comes from staying connected to the vine. Paul tells us in Galatians five 16, so I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desire of the flesh. Notice the word walk, not sprint, not even jog. Walk. A walk implies daily movement, steady pace and direction. When you walk with someone, you adjust your steps to theirs, and that's a Christian lifestyle.

Learning to match your pace to God's grace centered habits shape the heart. Basically, rhythms rooted in grace, create lasting transformation. Scripture renews your mind. Prayer aligns your heart. Community strengthens your faith. Rest reminds you that God is in control. I think David captures his heart posture in, in Psalm 1 27 verse one.

Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain. So what does that mean to us? What does this mean? We don't build our faith alone. God does a building. We just kind of have to show up and be part of it. So this year, choose presence over performance, and let me offer you some encouragement.

Specifically, if you're new to the faith, God's not keeping a score. He's just inviting you closer every day. This year doesn't need better resolutions. It needs deeper rhythms. Rhythms that anchor you. In truth, when life gets busy rhythms, they keep your heart soft. When trials come, rhythms that remind you daily that God is with you.

So instead of asking, how can I be better this year, just ask yourself, how can I stay closer to Jesus this year? Because when Christ is at the center, everything else just kind of finds its place. That's how real lasting transformation begins.

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Jason: So as we bring the first episode of this new year to a close, I wanna leave you with this simple truth.

You don't have to step into this new year alone. You are invited to step into it with God. Everything we've talked about today points to one central reality. New beginnings aren't about mustering courage from within yourself. They're about trusting the God who already stands ahead of you. He knows what this year will hold.

He knows the joys, the struggles, the victories, and the valleys, and he's still calling you forward. Trust him now. Maybe some of you are listening right now with excitement, maybe with hesitation, maybe with hope, maybe with fear, and God meets every single one of those places with the same steady promise.

Hear the words of Deuteronomy 31 verse eight. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. That's much more than encouragement. That's a guarantee. You may not know what tomorrow brings, but you know who brings you into tomorrow, and that's enough.

It really is. Faith isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to move forward even when fear whispers otherwise, even when the enemy whispers otherwise. So as you step into this year, don't measure your faith by how confident you feel. Measured by who you are. Trusting God doesn't ask you to seek the whole path, only to take the next step.

Obedience today leads to clarity Tomorrow. Faithfulness in small steps builds a life anchored in Christ. Maybe your step forward looks like returning to prayer. Maybe it looks like opening your Bible again. Maybe it looks like letting go of shame. Maybe like trusting God with something you've been holding too tightly.

Maybe it's just walking. The door of a church, whatever step it is, take it not in fear, but in faith. Until next time, keep loving your neighbors. Dive into God's word daily and may the Lord bless you and keep you and fill you with his peace. Take care. God bless. Happy New Year. We'll see you in the next episode.

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