2 0 1 6 | The Weary World Rejoices

The theme of this past week, leading up to the New Year seems to be:

"Good Riddance 2016"

I am sure that I'm not the only one who has seen or read or heard the sounds of wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from social media this past week. Everyone seems totally done with this past year and wanting to just throw it in the proverbial garbage of history.

I can understand that. But not because of some silly election. As troubling as American politics can be at times all the time. This is not what I think of as I look back at 2016. My mind is filled with atrocities around the world as well as my friends, family and strangers who feel like friends thanks to the powers of social media, who have suffered unimaginable loss. So feel affirmed all ye who are looking forward to slamming the door on 2016, it has been a rough year. But each year will always bring troubles with it.

"In this world you will have trouble..."

The Bible guarantees it for us. And the news of events near and far confirms it. There has been suffering. There has been loss. There has been sorrow. There has been pain. And there has been more of each of those things than any one person could comprehend or imagine.

But not God.

Sadly, the only way we will escape the trouble and heartache like that of the year 2016 is if Jesus chooses midnight tonight to sound those trumpets! This is our plight while sin reigns in this earth. It is humbling. It is troubling. It is scary.

But for our Hope:

"... but take heart I have overcome the world!"
       -John 16:33

2016 will not go down as the worst year in human history. Open any book on world history and you will see years filled with pain, heartache, loss and so on. Just scrolling through in my mind the few things I know of throughout history causes my heart to feel like a rock within me. I am all at once humbled as I realize the true insignificance of my own loss and heartache this past year. Honestly, just a scan of Facebook to see what those I know have lost and suffered this year I am slapped in the face with my great insignificance and how my loss, though heavy to me, truly pales in comparison. So many have tasted and dined on despair; a dish that I have barely sampled.

May I not lose sight of that.

Lest we put our hope for improvement in our world in the clock striking 12:00, let us remember what we just celebrated.

"A thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices"

If we are standing, champagne in hand, ringing in a New Year with the Hope of no more loss, no more pain and no more heart ache, let's remember that just a week ago we celebrated the real Hope we seek. We are the weary and rejoicing IS in order! Not just for a "better" 2017, but for a Savior who came to conquer sin and death.

"For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn"

12:01 January 1, 2017  is not the dawn of hope. Christ is. He brings the "new and glorious morn". He will wipe away every tear. He is the great comforter. He will restore.

So if you are looking back over 2016 and celebrating its end, I invite you to turn your eyes instead to Jesus. The only Hope we have in this dark and fallen world. 2017, as much as we don't want it to, will bring with it much that we wish it wouldn't. But Christ brings with him a hope that this world cannot offer. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He may not always prevent the pain and hardship, but he is not absent from us while we walk through it. He is the great comforter and he provides a peace that surpasses all understanding. Truly, may the weary, weary world rejoice in that!

This is my New Year's prayer for you and for me. I pray our hope is found in the One and Only who can offer it.

Who knew I could write a blog post that was so serious and without an obscene amount of photos of my children! 

Well... I didn't quite hit that mark....
It's important to note: 2016 wasn't ALL bad... it gave the world this sweet thing right here!

Ready. To. Party

Happy New Year, Friends!