This week is the final two weeks of 2025. In just a days, we will leave this year behind and step into a new one—2026. Usually, people give thanks for the days that God has granted throughout the year that has passed. We are grateful for the time, opportunities, and blessings God has bestowed upon us.
However, an important question needs our reflection: are we truly worthy of giving thanks for the days God has given us, if it turns out that we have filled those days with a life that displeases—even grieves His heart? How ironic it is for someone to offer thanksgiving to God for days in which they continually hurt Him. Sadly, this irony is committed by many—perhaps by nearly everyone—without realizing it.
The same happens when someone celebrates a birthday, and they give thanks for the years God has granted and sing, “Happy birthday.” Yet the real issue is not how long one has lived, but how they have filled those years of life. If one’s life has been filled only with things that please themselves and not God, doesn’t that mean they have wounded God’s heart? In such a condition, that person is not truly worthy of giving thanks. To celebrate years during which God was grieved and hurt is a cruel and careless act—yet this is what many people do unconsciously. Now, we must begin to realize that we have done wrong.
God has given us the year 2025. We give thanks because God still grants us life—breath, heartbeat, and pulse—in the midst of an increasingly chaotic world, which means God is still allowing us to change, so that we no longer live as we have before. Thus, if God will enable us to live through the end of 2026, we may give thanks worthily, for that year will have been filled with a life that truly pleases God’s heart.
If throughout 2025 we have wounded God’s heart, let us sincerely ask for forgiveness: “Forgive me, Lord, for all I have done that has grieved Your heart.” Let us make things right before God before leaving this year behind. Let us acknowledge our wrongs and come before Him in humility. Let us give thanks that God still provides us with a chance to repent and make things right. Not everyone is granted the same opportunity—not everyone who began 2025 will be allowed to see it through to the end.
We give thanks that today we are still alive, still breathing, still feeling our heartbeat, and still have the opportunity to repent. Therefore, let us grieve over our sins in 2025 with godly sorrow—sorrow that is in accordance with God’s will. For godly sorrow leads to true repentance.
Such sorrow is different from worldly sorrow. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10:
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
Not everyone can experience godly sorrow. Why is that? Because many people still allow their emotions to be ruled by worldly things—ambition, ego, and carnal desires. Yet genuine sorrow is born from the awareness that we have hurt God’s heart.
As we approach the turn of the year, let us come before God with a broken heart—not only thankful that we are still alive, but also grieving that we have hurt Him. From such sorrow will spring forth true thanksgiving—not a shallow gratitude born of favorable circumstances, but thanksgiving that flows from a heart forgiven, cleansed, and restored by the grace of God.