3 min read

Introducing 2021

I gotta say, I was actually hoping that something magical was going to happen the second that clock read January 1st, 2021. Boy was I wrong.
Introducing 2021

“Introducing 2021” (intro music played badly).

I gotta say, I was actually hoping that something magical was going to happen the second that clock read January 1st, 2021. Maybe it starts snowing, Auld Lang Syne starts playing out of nowhere and we all wake up with joy in our hearts and goodwill toward all men. Ya know, just like normal. It seems as though my hopes were greatly misplaced. In fact, it appears that based off the most recent events in our country, 2021 is simply ramping up for a second season of the critically acclaimed and certified rotten show that was 2020. I have already burnt the popcorn.

We have seen a year of horrible events. Racism, violence, rioting, lockdowns, quarantines, disease, death and destruction is what 2020 will forever be remembered for. Not even to mention the affects this year has had on the Church. It has truly been one of the most difficult years in ministry. I have had many nights that were filled with anxiety and worry.

We have had a year that has seen so much pain, anger and suffering. So many of us either know of those who have suffered or have been the recipients of suffering ourselves. It seems the world groans and we can almost hear its voice straining in the darkness, trying to make sense of it all.

My friends, it would be very easy to view our circumstances through the eyes of the world. It would be even easier to lose hope and fall into despair as the world does. I will confess there have been many times that I have doubted and allowed my finite state to be overwhelmed. Our minds and emotions are only capable of handling so much. As someone who is already predisposed to anxiety, this past year did indeed have many dark points. Yet no matter how dark this world becomes, however painful our life is, however far our culture moves away from God’s Word, we must remember one thing.

Jesus is King and we are His Church.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:10-11.

Oh dear Christian, there is no power greater than your Jesus. There is no force that can remove Him from His throne. There is no darkness too great or sorrow too strong that does not bow before the supreme authority of your advocate, your mediator, your friend, brother and King, Jesus. This world is but a footstool for His nail pierced feet and He holds our lives gently in His nail pierced hands. Our Jesus is not swayed by the events of this world nor does He tremble at the powers of the land. He holds them just as surely as the sun will rise in the morning and we would do well not to tremble at His puppets. The same voice that spoke life into existence itself, speaks to us through His all-sufficient Word. The same eyes that saw the disciples struggling in their boat, see us in our pain. The same hands that brought sight to poor blind Bartimaeus, bring sight into our darkened eyes. The same arms that drug that splintered cross up Golgotha’s hill, hold us fast and will never let us go.

When we remember this, our focus is aligned with the truest reality there is. Jesus is King. There is no power like His power. In that truth, there is the greatest hope, the greatest joy, the greatest peace and the greatest safety. As we venture into this new year, cling to Christ my weary friend. Even if that clinging is simply a white-knuckled grasp on the hem of His garment. Cling to Christ because He is yours and you are His. Cling to the King.