The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 ‘This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

Passover was going to mark a new year for the Jews. Passover, of course, speaks loudly of the Cross. As we begin our own new year, we know this is a time when people think about new beginnings, fresh starts, clean slates, and even make resolutions. We also know that the familiar pattern is for many to feel demoralised about their well-meant intentions, not very far into January!

I realise afresh, as I consider this, that there can be no genuine starting over, no authentic new beginnings, without first coming to the Cross in meaningful repentance.

Also, we will not persevere with our good intentions to live as followers of Christ, throughout the year, if we do not set the Cross continually before us as the God-given pattern of discipleship. The Christian life is cruciform: it is Cross-shaped.

Someone said, ‘Being a Christian is not about pinning the Cross, like a badge to your old way of life; it is rather about nailing your old way of life to the Cross – daily!’

PRAYER: Jesus keep me near the Cross…