In this New Year, we are talking about God’s resolutions – His plans to bless you in the coming year. As God says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Yesterday we looked at the first two of six ways God wants to bless you in 2023. He wants to bless you with a clear understanding of His love for you, and with an awareness of your own sin and regret.
Today we’re going to see how God is resolved to deal with your regret. The answer is in your present, where there are two more ways God wants to bless you.
- God wants to bless you with an understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus is God’s resolution to your regret. Paul writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).
At just the right time, Jesus was born. Paul says He was born “under the law.” That means God had the same expectation of Jesus that He has of you – the expectation of perfect obedience.
You couldn’t meet God’s expectations, but because Jesus was born under the law, He was able to take your place in receiving the punishment for your sin. And Jesus did what you could not do; He actually met God’s expectations of perfect obedience. Jesus is the only man ever to earn God’s approval by what He did. And then Jesus gave that approval to you.
Think about that. Jesus received the punishment you deserve, and You received the credit for what Jesus did. Because of Jesus, you are no longer God’s enemy. You’ve been adopted into God’s family. You are God’s child.
- That’s the next way God wants to bless you in the New Year. He wants to bless you with an awareness of who you are in Jesus. Paul continues, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Gal. 4:6). Who are you? You are the favorite child of your “Abba”, your “Daddy”. Run to Him today with your arms outstretched, jump into His lap, and know you are safe in the shelter of His embrace.
God deals with your regret about the past by blessing you with Jesus, who saved you with His blood and who made you a child of God. Tomorrow we will see two practical ways you can continue to live without regret in the future.