We took some time as a family after Christmas celebrations to hide and breathe before the new year began. We finished up what we needed to do in town and quickly packed up so we could head north to the mountains. The drive is familiar, so it doesn’t feel like a long drive. When we pulled into Clayton, GA we saw a most familiar sight—the cross on the hill.
I’ll be honest, I don’t actually know the story behind that particular cross. It’s just always been there—visible and constant. The cross has LED lights that light it up at night and you can see it from just about anywhere. As we stopped at Chick-fil-a to cash in on some free peppermint milkshakes, I stared up at the hilltop at the glowing cross. Again, visible and constant. It made me think about the new year coming up and what it may hold. What new is coming my way? What will happen that is better than last year? Worse than last year? And then it hit me, it doesn’t matter. It will be a new year and I will have the same Jesus.
“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” —Hebrews 13.7-8 NIV
The writer of Hebrews is encouraging his readers to trust in Jesus the way their leaders have. Those leaders have founded their lives on Christ and have proven the importance of faith in Him and so should the people. Jesus is Jesus, the same from start to finish. He is constant. He does not change because what He offers is perfect and good. God has no need to soften this or adjust that. What God offers is glorious and wonderful, sufficient and saving.
God can be trusted because Jesus Christ can be trusted. Jesus is God present and powerful, visible and constant. No matter what happens in life—around you, to you, in you, or through you—Jesus is your constant, therefore let that constant and unwavering grace that He offers be visible in your life.
Many of you trust me to be your pastoral leader or a spiritual influence in your life, and I am humbled. I am not perfect and the list of mistakes in 2025 is long. Of course I hope to lead well and better in 2026, and to be a faithful follower of Christ, a loving husband, and a good father. But I am counting on my constant—Jesus. He is “the same yesterday and today and forever.” He’s the only thing I can count on.
I heard Dane Ortlund say in my devotion time this morning, writing on Psalm 23, that we would much rather have God with us in the valley of the shadow of death, than be on the mountain top without Him. This is because God is the greatest of all goods. He is the best thing. The constant.
I want to encourage you today that 2026 is nothing but a new year, but that Jesus is the same wonderful, graceful, merciful, powerful, saving God yesterday, today, and forever. Trust Him, the Constant, and know that if you have Jesus you have all you need.
Happy New Year!
Jesus saves!
—Pastor Whit