My dear readers,

(Excerpts from Building Firm Foundations, Dr SH Tow)

1. A year crowned with goodness

"Happy New Year" for the unbeliever is but an empty wish. Far from ensuring happiness, the New Year merely hastens on his ultimate doom, without God and without Christ. No amount of New Year wishes can improve matters for him.

For the believer, every year is a good year. You and I enter the New Year with confidence that "another year with Jesus is better than the year before." With Him in charge and ourselves following in His steps, it cannot be otherwise.

Like the Psalmist, the New Year is an occasion for praise unto the Lord. He alone deserves the glory and we alone have the desire to praise Him, for those who know Him not, praise Him not. "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion" (Psa 65:1): it is in His church and among His people that true praise is heard and offered. Let all his saints bless and adore Him, the God of our salvation. New Year is a time forpraise!

We praise Him for good reasons: Who but our God hears our prayer? "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come" (Ps 65:2). For our God is ready to hear us, and to grant us our petitions. Our God is able to do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think ..." (Eph3:20)

We praise Him for He is a God who pardons our sins. "… as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away"(Ps 65:3). Our sins oppress and bind us, and in our helpless state we are ready to despair. But God in Christ reached down and took away our sins, washed us in His own blood, and made us new. Our Lord, "… when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb1:3).

We praise Him for He welcomes us with fatherly love. "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple" (Ps 65:4) The New Year brings us one year nearer that day, when we shall dwell with God forever!

We praise Him for His power. Our prayers would be futile, if the one we pray to have no means of granting our requests. But our God, "by terrible things in righteousness will answer us" (Ps 65:5). He is our only confidence, the God of our salvation. He has our interests at heart. To those who put their trust in Him, He says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye" (Ps 32:8).

"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness…" (Ps 65:11).

2. Redeeming time

Time is like money but with a difference. It comes to every person - man, woman and child – free.You cannot buy time or sell it.

You cannot accumulate time or refuse it. Every day God's TIME BANK credits each one of us with 24 hours of time, equally. Think of it as money: $1,440 every day (1440 minutes each day) to your account. One rule governs this precious gift: you must spend all of it in one day. No balances are allowed, and no overdrafts. How shall we spend the$1,440?

The answer is: in good buys and wise investments. Every dollar must be carefully spent, and to good purpose. For the way we spend our time may affect others and certainly it will affect our own lives for eternity. How do you spend your time each day? Have you ever written out a budget or time-table for your 24 hours, allotting the minutes and hours to the tasks and demands of the day? Do a little "time-accounting" and see how your 1,440 minutes are spent each day and it is likely to give a few rude shocks.

Time once past is beyond recall. How then can we "buy back" or redeem time? For this is what the Apostle Paul exhorts us all to do."See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph 5:15-16). What is Paul saying to you and me? Paul sees the evil and corruption of the times and exhorts believers to "walk circumspectly" or to live lives of maximum usefulness for God. Our $1,440 must be spent with eternity in view.

Look into your own life and see how many dollars you have carelessly or thoughtlessly thrown away. You may have done it for years, perhaps for all your life. The Apostle says, "Buy back those precious hours! Redeem the time!" For years you have wasted hours daily doing useless, inconsequential or even harmful things: aimlessly killing time, reading worldly books and magazines, watching TV for hours, polluting the mind, indulging in questionable pastimes, and doing a host of other unprofitable things. With a little judicious time-accounting it will become clear where you may buy back many valuable hours.

Let every minute and every hour be used for God! Cut out every harmful, unprofitable pursuit and transfer the time to godly and spiritually edifying activities. "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (Eph 5:17). Fill your day doing God's will. Do it while the year is still young!

Yesterday is a cancelled cheque. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you have. Spend it wisely!

New Year’s Blessings

God bless thy year

Thy coming in, thy going out,

Thy rest, thy travelling about,

The rough, the smooth,

The bright, the drear;

God bless thy year!

– Prayers collected from "Scouter’s 5 Cutouts" The Leader magazine

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor