Year-End Clearance

By: Dennis Harworth

As the year draws to a close, a certain thought came to mind.  You know how many retail stores have a year-end clearance?  Well, just as businesses take inventory and clear out the old and outdated stock to make room for the new; we should do the same spiritually.  God invites us to examine ourselves and release what belongs in the past.  Clearing away our spiritual clutter allows us to run freely into the future God has for us.  Hebrews 12:1 tells us, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Year-end clearance is a time for honest reflection.  So many people hold onto their past too tightly.  You are supposed to hold fast to the profession of your faith (Hebrews 10:23), not to the possession of your past.  You just have to let it go. January 1, 2026, and the 364 days that follow it, represent a brand-new year.  You can’t carry anything from the past into it.  You can’t live 2025 over again next year – It’s done. It’s gone. It’s over!

Look back over the past year and recognize whatever caused fear, discomfort, pain, sorrow or sickness in your life.  Realize there is absolutely no reason to hang on to it.  Why would you want to carry something like that around with you anyway?  Clear it all out and get ready for what God has ahead.  When you’re walking with God, He never wants you to go backward.  He always wants you to go forward – from where you were to where He wants you to be!  God wants you to be healthy and whole.  He wants you to be prosperous and have good success (Joshua 1:8).  He wants your life to be blessed – but it’s up to you to choose (Deuteronomy 30:19). If you don’t clear out the past and do life God’s way, nothing will change. 

Fortunately, this is a great time of year that is to your advantage to work on change.  There’s always something psychologically powerful about starting over on the first – especially the first day of the year.  That’s why New Year’s resolutions are so popular.  People want their lives to be better.  God also wants 2026 to be far better for you than 2025.  Since you can’t repeat the past or relive it, you might as well let it go and move on.  It might not be easy, but realize the clearance of your past is never about loss, but gain.  When you release it, God replaces it with peace in your mind, hope in your heart, and wholeness in your life.  Forget about the past for He is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:18-19).  Now it’s time for something new! Therefore, if you want to enjoy all the blessings of the new year; make your past a YEAR-END CLEARANCE.