Happy New Year, friends! I pray the wonder of Christmas season lingers into the new year. The eternal joy of the miraculous birth of our Savior is meant to be celebrated every day of the year. I hope that is true for you as we kick off 2024.

Clocks and calendars mark time during our earthly existence, but have you ever stopped to think about eternity? Yes, eternity is forever and we are living in it now. But this world was not meant to be our forever home. When we depart planet earth and enter a new dimension, time will be no more! Clocks and calendars will have no use. For believers, our new eternal home will be forever with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Until then, though, this earthly existence will get messy, and there is a sense that 2024 will be no ordinary year. Here in America it is an election year like no other. We’re already seeing signs of sinister schemes and evil plots. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are engaged in a cold civil war. It is not being fought on a battlefield, but it is a war between the elites of Washington, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the medical industrial complex, and Hollywood against everyday Americans. The battlefront is politics and personal rights.

The civil war is also between radical leftists who want to kill babies before birth and mutilate children against decent human beings who value life. It is between perverts who view every sort of sexual deviancy as “normal,” and those who believe God created and defined sexuality in the context of His grand design…namely, every life has value, there are only 2 sexes (no “genders”) and marriage is between one woman and one man for life.

Civil war is also happening in American churches and around the world. Pastors are going woke, denominations are going woke, and religious leaders are going woke. Some (including well known pastors and the pope) have declared immorality to be acceptable, baby murder to be justified, and “white guilt” to be legitimate. Many teach replacement theology, forgetting that Christianity’s validation is rooted in God’s faithfulness to the Jews first, then the Gentiles.

But the civil war being waged is not a political war, a cultural war, or a religious war. It is spiritual. It’s a battle between right and wrong, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. It is a battle raging against principalities, powers and rulers of darkness in unseen places (Ephesians 6:12), yet fronted in politics, culture, religion etc.

The optimist would say, “2024 is a new year, so let’s think positive.” The pessimist would say, “There is no hope for the world, so 2024 will be a lousy year.” The realist (rooted and grounded in God’s Word) would say, “Regardless of what 2024 brings, God is still on the throne!” 

We will face challenges in 2024 simply because human nature is out of control and God will not tolerate human beings attempting to be gods of their own lives and others. (That’s what all sin is rooted in!) But through the challenges, if we surrender our lives to Him moment-by-moment (that’s a lifestyle of repentance), 2024 will be a victorious year!

Clocks and calendars remind us of earthly existence and the challenges that come with man’s attempt to be like God. But we were not created to live here forever. Time as we know it is winding down, and our Lord commands that we occupy (do His business) until He comes to eliminate clocks and calendars and take us to be with Him for eternity! (Luke 19:11-13)

Make 2024 a year of full commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior!

PS: If you are not a believer, you are not “right” with God, and your destiny is to another eternal home called hell. Don’t go there! Commit your life to Jesus and no matter what the year brings, you can live victoriously, and your eternal home will be with Him!