Articles

As the old year ends and a new one begins, you’ll probably be wished at some point, “Happy New Year!” And indeed, for many of us, a new year does provide an opportunity to mark out one’s course for the twelve months ahead—a course likely aimed at greater happiness.

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The familiar Christmas story tells us that Jesus was conceived in a human mother without any human father—that He was conceived by “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35). Many modern people object that such an event is an impossibility. Even some Christians attempt to downplay the importance of Mary’s virginity in the Gospel accounts.

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Songwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty offer a rich collection of timeless hymns and modern songs for congregational worship in The Sing! Hymnal. Known worldwide for their ministry through music, the Gettys have written a rich catalog of modern hymns sung in churches throughout the world. This hymnal presents a thoughtfully curated collection of five hundred classic and contemporary hymns, including songs like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “How Great Thou Art,” “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death,” and “In Christ Alone.”

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In Isaiah 57:20–21, God tells us,

  “The wicked are like the tossing sea;
 for it cannot be quiet,
 and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

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When Christians tell about God’s mercies to them, it provides tremendous encouragement to others who are seeking to live by faith. In Psalm 34:6, we find just such a testimony: “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” Three brief observations about this verse will serve as helpful reminders for our Christian walk.

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Psalm 145 is the only psalm that, in the original Hebrew, has the heading tehillah, which means simply “a psalm” or, more plainly, “a praise.” It is also the last of David’s psalms—and in some ways, it seems to gather together all of David’s experience of God to express his thanksgiving and adoration:

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Dear Friend,

“All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above;
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all His love.”

These words are the refrain of my favorite harvest Thanksgiving hymn. It reminds us that while the farmer sows the seeds, we have God to thank, because it is He who “sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain, the breezes and the sunshine, and soft, refreshing rain.”

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When Paul expresses his thanks to God in the opening verses of Colossians, he says that he does so “always” (Col. 1:3). His gratitude, in other words, was not a temporary feeling but a consistent habit. Moreover, he was in no doubt about whom he should thank: “We always thank God.” The Lord, he acknowledges, is worthy of all the glory of gratitude, for He is ultimately responsible for everything good we receive.

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Faithful pastors often remind their flocks, “The church is not a building. The church is the people.” That is a true and important reminder. Yet it is also true that the New Testament frequently refers to the church as just that: a building—that is, that the people themselves are like a building on which God has broken ground and is constantly working.

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