Begin Your New Year at the Cross Part 2
(January 5, 2026)
Last week we explained how to start your new year with the only
chance you have for real, lasting success by starting with believing in Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior. We learned that your problem is not lack of will power
but that you are dead in your sins and Jesus is the only One who can give you life!
I pray that you made that life-changing decision.
This week I want to encourage you if you are a believer in Jesus to carry on even if
you have failed him, sinned, or given up.
If you have failed your Savior, remember Peter. He denied the Lord Jesus three
times! Yet by the sea of Galilee after an unsuccessful fishing trip, the Lord
restored Peter to fellowship with Himself. Peter had never lost his relationship to
Christ, but their fellowship was temporarily disrupted by Peter’s failure.
The same is true of you, my dear fellow believer. If you have failed to be faithful
to the Lord or sinned in some way, confess your sin and failure to Jesus and ask
His forgiveness. He will restore you immediately (1 John 1:9).
If you have given up, remember John-Mark. He deserted Paul and Barnabas on
their first missionary journey. But in Paul’s last letter to Timothy he wrote, “Get
Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry”
(2 Timothy 4:11). Jesus is waiting for you with open arms, my friend! Go to your
Savior, right now and talk it over with Him. He understands and will help you get
up and move forward in faith.
Proverbs 24:16 says, “For though the righteous man may fall seven times, he still
gets up…” Because Jesus Christ paid for all your sins and failures on the cross,
even the sin of giving up, He will cause you to rise on eagle’s wings again (Isaiah
40:31). Don’t listen to the devil’s lie. You are not a failure! Get up in the strength
of the Lord Jesus and walk again by faith! Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.”
You have a bright future this year because Jesus Christ is Lord! Turn to Him!