What is the future that you are going to create in 2021?

The new year is an artificial dividing line between the old and the new. There isn't really anything magic about Jan. 1 as opposed to Dec. 31. Yet we look at it as a major delineation between the past and the future. For a great focusing talk about a future and a hope for 2021 based on Is. 61:1-6, go to Finding Freedom - Mosaic. Erwin McManus encourages us to consider the question “What is the future that you are going to create in 2021?” Many of you like the practice of “New Year’s Resolutions.” As followers of Christ, maybe it is time to turn our focus from all to the devastation of the past and become agents of hope in this new year. The challenge is huge. We've seen that even today. 

If you have interest in my reflections on this great passage of scripture and Erwin’s powerful thoughts, continue reading. Otherwise, I’m not offended if you keep scrolling.

In the Passion Translation of Isaiah 61:2 the writer says that he is announcing “a new season of Yahweh’s grace.” The Christmas season of celebration that has just wrapped up is the remembrance of the birth of the Messiah, who was tasked by His Father, God Himself, to lead in the efforts to do all the things outlined in Isaiah 61:1-6. As true Christ-followers, we understand that we are called to embrace the mission of the Messiah and, as verse 6 reminds us, be His Priests, Servants, “ministers of our God (NIV).”

I was moved and motivated when Erwin pointed out this reality about what is happening right around us. Drive around your town, your city, and look at all the businesses that are closed down, all the buildings that are boarded up, and realize that behind every vacant business are lives that have been dramatically impacted. It caused me to realize, once again, that the response of far too many in the church is to complain about having to wear a mask and bemoan their personal freedom being infringed upon. I often wonder what we are actually doing with that freedom.

Here is what I see that we as Christ-followers have been appointed to do by God; Proclaim good news to the poor (those without good news); Bind up (administer healing to) the brokenhearted; Proclaim freedom for the captives (literal and figurative); Release the prisoners from darkness (again literal and figurative); Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God; Comfort all who mourn; Provide for those who grieve; Bestow crowns of beauty instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, garments of praise instead of a spirit of despair; Rebuild the ruins and restore the places devastated; Renew the ruined cities that have been devastated.

So much of what we are called to do is contingent on the grace with which we do them and the attitudes we convey to be of real value. I’m particularly struck with verse 3 in The Passion Translation where it says “to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.” What message are my words transmitting when I speak to others? What attitudes of my heart are revealed when I speak? How do my words and actions show others who I am and Who’s I am?

As I reflect on this passage and the encouragement of Erwin’s talk, one more question comes to mind. What or who is the solution to the tragedies of 2020? Is it a government system created by man? Is it any political party or dynamic leader? Is. 6 tells us it is not. In fact, the Jews of the time were wrongly expecting a political Messiah to fix what they thought was a political problem. Jesus, the Messiah, identified the problem to be personal, not political. He calls us to be part of the solution; to be the “strangers…foreigners…priests…ministers,” that help others with their needs.

As I move into the new year, I have been prepared by the trials of 2020 to do the things God is calling me to do in 2021. One of the greatest Presidents in the history of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was prepared to meet the needs of a hurting country of people partly because of his deeply rooted faith in Christ and partly because of the trials he had personally experienced in his life. I feel like I can say the same thing and I look forward to how that plays out in 2021.

Thanks for reading.