New Year Call

Put off the old, put on the new,
The call is ringing clear,
A fresh, new start is on the way
To greet the dawning year.

The past behind, the future bright,
We’re pressing toward the prize –
Eternal life the worthy goal
On which we fix our eyes.

The day to come is full of hope
For those who look ahead;
Keep on the path and don’t look back
As step by step we’re led.

Let grudges go and fears begone,
Let gains and losses fade,
So unencumbered we can seize
Life’s promise yet unmade.

By faith not sight we work and pray
With love and holy zeal
Our treasure: Christ, our guide: God’s Word,
Our hope: the Spirit’s seal.

Then onward, upward day by day
We’ll strive and persevere;
We won’t give up or turn aside
For sure reward is near.

Christina Joy Hommes

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. … Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

 

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. … (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. … And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

 

Ephesians 4:22-24; Titus 2:13-14; Philippians 3:13-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Galatians 6:9

(Full texts in “poem order” for further study – Ephesians 4:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:13-14; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews 6:11-12; Hebrews 10:38-39; Luke 17:32; James 5:9; 2 Timothy 1:7; Philippians 3:7; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Colossians 3:14; Titus 2:13-14; Matthew 13:45-46; Psalm 119:105; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Proverbs 4:18; 1 Corinthians 9:24; Galatians 6:9)