“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

“For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus…”

Isn’t that amazing? So many people wonder what God’s will might be for their life. There may be other things that God wills for you, but one thing I know without a shadow of doubt is that God wants you to give thanks. Why? Because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

You see, because Jesus is Lord and Savior, we give thanks. We give thanks for our salvation. We give thanks for God’s grace that reached out to us. We give thanks for Jesus who died for us while we were yet sinners. We give thanks because of Jesus, because in him we start from the foundation of eternal salvation, adoption, inheritance, forgiveness. We give thanks because in Christ Jesus we have everything we will ever need for this life and the eternal life to come.

So, as we start the day to the last day of the year, before the celebrations, before the parties, before the get togethers, please take a moment to reflect back on the year to give thanks. If you are here, if you are reading this, it’s because God brought you here. There is so much God has brought us through. Thank him. Reflect back on God’s faithfulness, his provisions, his grace, his mercy, his steadfast love and give thanks.

In fact, it would be good to just jot down everything you are grateful for this year.

You’ll be amazed at how much God has blessed you.

Happy New Year! Celebrate responsibly.

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?…For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:23, 32)

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The context of the 2 Peter passage is regarding the day of the Lord. It’s talking about the end times of judgment. People are wondering why God doesn’t reveal himself now and destroy the scoffers and judge evil.

2 Peter 3:9 tells us the reason why the second coming of the Christ has not occurred yet is so that people will come to repent and receive eternal life. God is patient so that people may come to saving faith.

I don’t know how anyone came to picture God as a wrathful God with the hammer of justice ready to pounce on any who step out of line. Look at the verses from today. Do these verses reveal a God with the hammer of justice, ready to pounce on sinners? These verses reveal the very opposite.

I actually do know how we came to picture God as such a wrathful God. satan. satan wants us to believe that’s who God is. satan lies.

The heart of God is revealed in the verses of the day.:

• “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?“
• “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”
• “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”.

God loves you. Repent and receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus.

“After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand” (Jeremiah 31:19a).

I am paraphrasing Karl Barth who said something like, “The more we understand who God is, the more we understand who we are. And the more truly we understand who we are, the more truly we understand God.”

The more we understand how loving, amazing, wonderful God is, the more we understand who we are as someone God values.

And the more we understand who we truly are as wretched sinners, the more we truly understand how amazing God’s grace and forgiveness is.

I think Barth is right.

The verse of the day talks about coming to a place of understanding. Often, we want to understand before we proceed in our journey of faith.

• I will start giving more when I start understanding more
• I will believe once I understand
• I will start living my life in obedience when I understand
• I will forgive after I understand

The problem with this is that it’s backwards. Obedience comes before understanding.

That’s what our verse teaches us. It’s only after we repent, after we obey, after we start down the path of faith that understanding comes.

Faith and obedience leads to understanding. Trust in God.