New Year or New Heart?

Scripture — Ezekiel 11:19-20 (NRSV)

I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Devotion

Happy New Year! Today is New Year’s Day, the first day of 2025. Beginning at midnight, people around the world have been celebrating the coming of the new year.

I live in Pasadena, California. This means that New Year’s Day is a big deal. It starts with the Rose Parade, with its bands, equestrian units, and world-famous floats covered in flowers. Then there’s the Rose Bowl game, the so-called “granddaddy of them all” because it is the oldest college football bowl game.

My family and I don’t actually attend the parade and the game. But we have a marvelous tradition that allows us to enjoy what is most special about the Rose Parade. We get up very early on New Year’s morning and drive to a spot about a mile from where the parade begins. Then, we head for the street where all the floats have lined up for the parade. We’re able to walk within five feet of the floats, seeing them up close. This gives us a chance to enjoy their beauty and marvel at how they have been made.

We also get to see some of the celebrities who are part of the parade. My son always looks for Jesus, who has a place each year on the Lutheran Hour Ministries float. (Well, okay, he’s not actually Jesus. But the pastor who plays Jesus does dress up in Bible clothes and has a fine beard. You can see an example here.)

I enjoy New Year celebrations. But it seems to me that, apart from a calendar change, there really isn’t much new about the new year. The economy is still the same on January 1 and it was on December 31. The tensions in the world are still the same. And, to be honest, I am still the same, other than being a bit tired from staying up late on New Year’s Eve and getting up early to see the floats.

The newness that really matters comes not from the calendar but from God. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God once promised to make people new: “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19). Now that’s newness we could celebrate: a new heart that is no longer divided between good and evil, a new spirit as the Holy Spirit refreshes our souls, a new heart that is tender and open, not stone cold.

What God once promised to do for Israel is given to us through Jesus Christ. Remember what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” When we know Christ through faith, though we continue to live in this age with all of its brokenness, injustice, and sin, we also begin to live in the new age, when God’s kingdom will have come fully, bringing healing, justice, and righteousness. Through the Holy Spirit, we begin to live as new people now, with new hearts, new minds, and new ways of living.

Today, as you celebrate the new year, may you ask the Lord to renew your heart. May you be fully open to all that God wants to do in you in 2025 and beyond.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Ezekiel’s Call to Be a Prophet (Ezekiel 1-17).