Why I Hate New Year’s Day (Guest Post)

Today’s post is written by Dr. David Daffern (my father). Great word to keep us from getting too caught up in New Year’s hype. You can find his blog here. Enjoy!

New Year’s Day is my least favorite day of the year. Don’t get me wrong. I love having a paid day off. I love the football (Go BLUE!).

The problem is that everything else about the holiday is a fraud.

Too many people make a list of resolutions, and then wait for the magical page-turn of the calendar.  Poof!  Suddenly they have a chance for a fresh start, because it is a new year. WHY WAIT?  Anyone, anytime, anywhere can have a fresh start . . . through faith in Christ: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17. God is not constrained by a page-turn on a calendar.

Too many people “party hearty” the day/night before, thinking that will magically make their mistakes of the past year(s) go away.  WRONG. We might temporarily forget about our problems in the midst of the party, but the problems are still just as real. There is an alternative. Too often, this alternative is tried only as a “last resort”: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness – 1 John 1:9.

Of course, there are some people who ignore the page-turn of a calendar . . . and the Lord. They think that it’s too late for them; they are “too far gone.” WRONG. God’s specialty is in giving new life and fresh starts to those who are imprisoned by their past or the addictions of their present. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us – Romans 5:8.

Bottom line: Anyone, anytime, anywhere, any situation can have a fresh start. Yes, you can have one today. But, you also can have one tomorrow.