New Year, New You?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
So, why be a “new creation”? God wants to save you from the consequences of your past sins, which is eternal punishment. And it’s not just a matter of self-reform. No human but Christ is perfect and is safe from eternal punishment. (Christ was human through Mary, but also deity, God being His Father.)
So, how can one be “in Christ”? It starts by repenting to God. Then, by letting Christ be your scapegoat on the cross. That way, when God looks at you, He sees Christ. He sees you as being as perfect as Christ.
That’s why God gave us Jesus. That’s why Jesus went through with the sacrifice of Himself. Jesus came to be our Savior. So, take God and Jesus up on their offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Repent. Ask God to forgive you for Christ’s sake. Get forgiven. Be in Christ. Be a new you.
Once it hits you how sinful you were, and what God and Christ sacrificed to give you this new chance, you will be grateful. You will want to stay good and stay right with God. You do that by trying to be good but repenting when you do sin. The death penalty Christ took covers those sins too.
God loves you and wants to make you new:
18 “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isaiah 1:18
How King David repented:
1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Psalms 51:1-2
Repent, stay in Christ, and He defends you:
5 He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. Revelation 3:5
A clean record before God is possible through faith in Jesus Christ:
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, Romans 3:21-22
My prayer for you is that you understand you can start over with God, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and that you will. God and Jesus Christ love you! Let God Bless You! —New Year, New You!