Did you make a New Year's resolution?  Let’s face it most of them are never kept.  Whether it’s to eat better, to  lose weight, or to start to exercise, we just don’t have the drive to maintain them throughout the year. 

I would like to suggest something different, something God established for the New Year for the Israelites many years ago.  They were in the stranglehold of the Egyptian dynasty forced to do manual labor.  But in God’s great love for them, He would deliver them from their bondage of slavery and misery.  “This month shall be…the first month of the year to you.”  God set the calendar – He would free them the first month of the year.  They would have to set aside a lamb without blemish, sacrifice it, and apply the blood over the doorposts of their dwellings.  In doing so they would ensure their life and their independence from Egypt.  The death angel would pass over them.   This is a picture of what Jesus the Messiah did for us.  He's called our Passover -(I Cor 5:7).  Peter says that we have been redeemed “with precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” We are not only forgiven, but we now can walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:4)  In Christ we are a new creation. (II Cor 5:17)  In the first month of the Hebrew calendar, the Israelites were freed to serve and to live for Him.  As we begin a new year, could there be a better desire of our heart than to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith?” (Heb 12:2)