Most people would dearly love to have a new year, but they soon realize the same old problems they faced in the previous year have followed them into the new one. How can anyone have a new year when he is still the same old person he was the year before? The only way one can have a new year is to become a new person. This statement made by the Lord Jesus: “ . . . Behold, I make all things new . . .” (Rev. 21:5) applies to people as well as things. In fact, Scripture further declares, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

How does one become a new person? To become new, one must be born again (John 3:3-7). Our old man and its sin nature, which we inherited from Adam, are corrupt (Eph. 4:22). The new birth is necessary to produce in us a new man “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). Only one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 John 5:1). Obviously then, one cannot be born of God—which is the same as being born again or from above—without believing or trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you would truly have a new year, you will need to be made new yourself. With a new birth come a new nature, new attitudes, and new interests. When these essential spiritual qualities characterize one’s life, there is a strong basis for the expectation that he will indeed have a new year. Those without the new birth face the certain prospect that nothing for them will really change with the turning of the calendar. Therefore, to experience a new year, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30, 31) and begin the year with Him as your Lord and Savior.