by Barbara Latta
As we enter a new year our thoughts are on new ways to set
goals or start resolutions.
But we can also be tempted to look behind us and allow any
despair, heartbreak, or loss from last year to overwhelm us. Our soulish health depends upon
changing our focus.
The only reason we should look in the rearview mirror is to
learn from mistakes. We don’t need to stay in the pain of the past. God doesn’t
want us living in regret.
We can anticipate the future with hope when we focus on the
love Christ has for us and that He gives our lives significance.
The best way we can start this year is to know we matter
to God.
We can learn how important an individual life is when we read
the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-25).
Jesus left Judea to go to Galilee. In that day, Jews did not
travel through Samaria. They would take the longer way around to avoid putting
their feet on the soil of a despised race. Except for Jesus.
The Scripture tells us that Jesus “needed” to go through
Samaria. He knew a woman with a broken heart and a spiritual thirst would be
there. A woman who felt insignificant. A woman who didn’t matter to society. A
woman who felt alone and isolated. A woman who sought love but remained empty.
She may not have mattered to anyone else, but she
mattered to the Son of God. She mattered so much He changed His route just to
be where she was.
The Messiah ministered to this woman’s soul and healed her
hurts by accepting her despite her sin and failures. His words changed her
destiny. He broke religious tradition and racial prejudice because she was
important. He showed her what true love was all about.
Do you ever feel the same way this woman did? Do you feel
lost in the billions of people in the world as if you don’t matter?
The Savior speaks to us as individuals. He is not willing
that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). We matter so much He died in the place of
each of us.
He meets us where we are like He did with the Samaritan
woman. You matter. I matter. He gives each life significance. He wants our
fellowship. He wants us to let Him love us.
We can start the new year by accepting Christ’s love and
letting Him show us how important we are to Him. Please know you matter to God.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one
and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10
NIV)
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