Looking Backwards
I know this seems like an odd title for a January newsletter. Should we not be looking forward to 2026 and our goals and hopes for the year? January is a good time to start fresh but also to take some time to reflect. If we are to look forward biblically, we should also spend at least a little time looking backwards.
When I was asked if I would write the article for this month’s newsletter, I was just getting started in Matthew 1. In the first 17 verses, Matthew lays out the genealogy of Christ – a necessary “looking backwards,” if you will – that establishes Jesus’ lineage through his non biological father, Joseph. But what I want to look at and what stood out to me then is the reminder that the angel gave Joseph in Matthew 1:20. Joseph had made up his mind to divorce Mary quietly, but an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Joseph was reminded of his identity as part of the line of David. He had been called and chosen apart from any choice of his own, and while he could have chosen not to take Mary as his wife, he could not part from his foundational heritage. Looking backwards can and should be a necessary part of looking forward with courage and hope, because in doing so we are reminded of what God has done and what He promises will be. Joseph would have known that the promised Messiah would come from a descendant of David, and the angel’s reminder that he is a part of that story would have been a huge encouragement in taking the next step of obedience.
I have lived in Juneau for the past 3 years and I have spent a good chunk of each year in Alaska since 2020. However, I grew up in central Kansas, and I return there at least once a year during December for a variety of reasons, one of which being to reconnect with family and friends. As the years go on, the changes feel more and more pronounced as we all age and things change. Being gone for long stretches, as I am, highlights the changes. But as I get older, I have appreciated my foundations even more – the good and seemingly not so good, the spiritual and seemingly not so spiritual. In going back to visit, I have been reminded how every part of my life has fed into who I am now and what God has called me to, sometimes unwillingly.
The call to run with perseverance in Hebrews 12 follows a long list of faithful, imperfect saints in Hebrews 11. Our lives as believers are built on the generations before us and our own personal experiences of God’s faithfulness that increase and deepen as the years go by. This is the same for ministries like Echo Ranch and your local church. We need these reminders of God’s faithfulness as we enter a new year, or at least I do. It can be easy to get tired, to want to step away when things get hard and ministry and life get difficult or lonely. But if we keep in mind God’s faithfulness and the countless believers whose faith has been proven by Him, we can bring the difficulties to Christ and look forward with courage and hope and a trust that He is with us and that better things are coming not only in the new year but also in eternity. So if you haven’t already, do a little looking back over 2025 through the lens of Scripture and then look forward to 2026 and everything that it will hold.
“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:7)