Isn’t it great to receive something new? With Christmas now behind us, you may well have fresh memories of having received some things that are new, recalling the pleasant feelings associated with it. Or you may be looking forward to going shopping to take advantage of after-Christmas sales in order to purchase something new that you didn’t receive the week before. Or it may be that you received something as a gift, and, while appreciating the thoughts behind it, you may intend to take it to where it was purchased and exchange it for something you really want. It could be that you received something that proved defective or flawed, and you’ll be taking advantage of the “money-back-guarantee” that came with it. Sometimes even new things are recalled by the manufacturer, and you are enabled to return what was once new for something really new.
Wouldn’t it be great if each year had a one-year-guarantee that came with it? That way, if there was anything that really made it a bad year for us, we could somehow turn it in and start all over again. It could be grief over the loss of a loved one, sickness, or financial problems. Or it may be that in looking back on 2024 you realize you could have taken better advantage of the opportunities that were presented to you during the year. Perhaps resolutions made at the first of the year somehow were forgotten or ignored. But there’s no way that you’re going to be able to trade it in. It was your year, given to you by God, and you were largely responsible for what you made of it—good or bad. If you used it in a responsible way, it’s to your credit. It may not have been the kind of year you would have preferred, but a wise steward will endeavor to use what has been entrusted to him in the best way that he can. The Heavenly Manufacturer gives to all whatever years we have, but He will never take them back.
However, we should be mindful of the fact that while our years will not be recalled by our Maker, the same is not true of our lives. The epistle of James reminds us, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye ;know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jas. 4:13-17).
While the past years are not subject to recall by God, our lives or souls will be recalled and be subjected to examination. It will be as Paul warns us: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
In a few short days we will again, the Lord willing, be given something new—another new year. What the year may hold for us, we have no way of knowing. If we didn’t do well with the previous year, by God’s grace we may be given 2025 to spend more carefully. If you have failed in the past to heed the call of the Gospel, you need to realize, “Now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).
–Ron Bartenen is a retired preacher living in Milton, FL