“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2Tim.2:1)
Lord Jesus, on the cusp of saying goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025, several images of transition come to mind: Finish with a flourish. Go out with a bang. Leave it all on the field. End on a high note. Close the door on your way out. But we’ll never choose better than following Paul’s advice to Timothy—“Be strong in the grace of Jesus.” O, to finish this year, and begin the next, strong in your grace.
What are other options? Well, we could finish 2024 with a big pity party—filling the air with the confetti of comparisons, resentment, envy. Or we could end the year paralyzed by our fears—but that would be going out with a whimper, not a bang. We’re still wired to end a year making resolutions—but hopefully, we know the Gospel better than that.
Ending 2024 “strong in grace” means we’ll gladly finish the year honest about our weaknesses, aware of our cravings, and boasting only in you, Jesus—for you are our “righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (1Cor.1:30)—our very life and hope of glory (Phil.1:21, Col.1:27).
Did people disappoint and hurt us in 2024? But of course they did. Did we disappoint and hurt people—including people we love? Yes, sadly, yes. Did things happen to us and around us that we don’t understand, like, or “get”? A big “Yep” to that. Are you working in those things for our good in ways we’ve yet to see? Yes, thank you, and help us see your heart and hand at work.
To finish 2024 strong in grace won’t be to finish strong is something, but Someone—in you, Jesus. It is you we earnestly crave—and it is us you intensely love Jesus. Thank you, and So Very Amen.