“The best is yet to be!“

–Rabbi Ben Ezra, poem by Robert Browning 

The old year has passed before us and the new year soon marches in. God’s spectacular story is playing out before our eyes in our age. Every writer of the New Testament knew “The best is yet to be,” even in the turmoil of their age.

The calendar is important to the church. It allows the believer to structure worship and teaching around significant events in salvation history, deepening the understanding of our faith. Each year works in tandem with every year that has ever been and will be. The early church did not observe Christmas until the fourth century. The incorporation of a Christmas celebration into its worship and teaching gave it an opportunity to reflect on the divine purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world as the Savior, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and God’s plan for humanity, illustrating the depths of God’s grace. 

The calendar matters. 

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) noted that time is a complex and subjective experience. In Confessions, he grapples with the question of what time is, and conceptualizes time in three aspects: past, present and future. He argued that God exists outside of time, in eternity. For Augustine, God is not bound by temporal constraints, for he is the Creator of time itself and can see all of time. God’s use of the calendar (time) was to serve the divine plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. 

For the created, a calendar is essential.

Turn the page or press the digital button on your calendar and if life is not wrapping up as you predicted or there are unanswered questions, trust in the promises of the future life through Christ. It stands in contrast to the transitory nature of earthly existence. 

 The best is yet to be. 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 20:18,20b

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we confess the need for your guidance and presence for the future. You alone know what is ahead and can give us the strength and wisdom to meet each day. Thank you for the promise and hope of a new year. With our whole heart, we trust you to make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Amen

Do not remember the former things, 

Nor consider the things of old. 

Behold, I will do a new thing, 

Now it shall spring forth; 

Shall you not know it? 

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert. 

-Isaiah 43:18,19