In order for something to be new there should not be anything of the same lingering. When we mix something new with something old usually the old affects the new. Jesus spoke of the process for wine conservation and he said that one cannot put new wine into old skins (Mt. 9:17). The old wine skins cannot hold the new wine it will burst. For 2016 we cannot drag in the 2015 old wines. A complete fresh and new start is required in order for any resolution to be effective. It is important that we start anew, fresh, with out any residue from the past. It is the same in Christ, when we come to the Lord all our old habits need to be put to a stop and a whole new ones must begin. The old is past away and the new must take over; No mixing.
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
God’s specialty is to make all things new and this newness begins with God’s word. His word is the agent of change. Something new has to come with the new year. For some, it will be catastrophe, but for others it is a good thing that will come this new year. God has something new to reveal to us (Is. 48:6). But, his hidden things that he wants to reveal will not happen when we drag the old ideologies and ways from the past. The new becomes a way of life Paul calls it “newness” (Ro. 6:4). Newness of life evolves around the verse to the Corinthians “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Cor. 5:17).
So, the process for starting anew begins with us not dragging old habits from the previous, incorporating the word of God, and acting or walking in newness. There are too many people; people of God, dragging on old habits to the way of God not realizing that soon enough a rip will tear that way of life and God’s purpose and plan will slip away.