Happy New Year to you! I hope the holiday season has been one of rest and refreshment for you and your loved ones.

After Christmas celebrations are over, the next ‘event’ is New Year’s Eve/Day. While many choose to keep things low key and quiet, some make this into quite a big deal. There are fireworks to watch, parties to attend, and plenty of alcohol to be consumed. Yet the gladness brought about by these things is only temporary; the reality of ordinary life soon kicks back in. Perhaps some feel a great sense of anti-climax.

If you really want to ‘celebrate the new year in style’ without the slump afterwards, this week’s Bible reading is for you. Psalm 16:9-11 says: ^9 “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

These words speak not of the temporary highs offered by this world, but the everlasting joy that comes to God’s people. More specifically, these verses refer to the Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts 2:22-36), the Faithful One whose Body did not see decay, but was raised to glorious life. Having paid for our sins by His blood, Christ conquered death, and offers eternal life in God’s presence to all who trust in Him. Such truths bring believers a real joy and happiness with which earthly celebrations cannot even hope to compete. All who are united to Christ receive every spiritual blessing in Him, including our own future resurrection. If that doesn’t make your heart glad, nothing will! Whatever else we do to celebrate the New Year, may our hearts overflow with the incomparable, never-ending joy that only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus.