With faith in God's foresight, we can be absolutely certain that in 2026, only God, who ordains our lives and our salvation, knows what awaits us in 2026. In our beloved homeland, in our families, at our workplaces, in our personal destinies, and in our health. But He knows, as the Book of Life, our Bible, and Christian philosophy have been teaching us for 2,000 years, making it certain. St. Augustine, the Church Father, and then Thomas Aquinas, the medieval philosopher, also used this sentence, conceived in European Christian philosophy, in Latin: in confusionem hominis – Dei providentia. In other words, in human confusion, we can find our way and survive with God's foresight, knowing that our lives are in safe hands. Not in unpredictable human hands, but in "God's hands." It is no coincidence that this Christian philosophy is echoed in the motto of Switzerland, one of the world's leading countries in international finance and diplomacy: Hominum confusione et Dei providentia Helvetia regitur = human confusion and God's providence govern Switzerland.
To put it even more clearly, applying this to today's world: despite human turmoil, God's foresight, our biblical guidance, and His presence through the Holy Spirit continue to beneficially rule over human destinies, believing families, the Christian world, and, through His historical and natural power, the entire world, the created world, even in the digital age. We must not forget this in 2026 either. Moreover, we can set out toward the unknown future with this personal and communal confession, this certainty of faith—hopeful and cheerful, because we can be absolutely certain of God's presence and guidance. I wish I could be so absolutely certain about our faith, our Christian life, and our reliance on God! It is up to us, our prayer life, our faithfulness to the Bible, and our commitment to God and to each other.
Strong Encouragement: Jesus Alone, He Alone
If there is one universal cantus firmus, one guiding melody that can serve as a central and common motto for all peoples throughout the world in 2026, in China and Hungary, and as a compass and ray of hope in various troubled places around the world, Matthew, Mark, First, in Matthew 17:1-8, we read about the unparalleled event of Jesus' transfiguration in the New Testament, when Peter, James, and John went up the mountain with the Lord. There, Jesus' clothes became dazzling white, and before their eyes, he was transformed. There, Jesus' clothes became dazzling white, and he was transfigured before their eyes. Despite Jesus' presence, the three chosen disciples were seized with great fear. This fear may have been caused by holiness, by revealing purity. They fell to the ground. Then Jesus touched them and said, "Get up, don't be afraid!" They looked up and saw no one but Jesus alone. Jesus' pure holiness shines through us today more brightly than anything else (Mark 9:3). It amazes us, dispels all kinds of darkness, doubt, phobia, and fear, and exposes all kinds of appealing lies. Perhaps our anxiety and phobias have not yet completely disappeared, and only he knows what will befall us in 2026 in this overly manipulated world. That is why we need Jesus' touch, his quiet and gentle yet strong encouragement that lifts us up: "Do not be afraid; stand up straight!" In order to stand up straight, to get back on our feet, and to maintain our human dignity in the new year, we need divine support. Humanity needs Jesus, Jehosuah, the Savior. Even if many do not yet profess or see this. Today, 2.6 billion Christians on Earth already believe, profess, live, and pass on this life-defining, joyful fundamental experience. A Hungarian Protestant brother, a Reformed songwriter, put it this way: No one sees, no one who looks, what is in the heart, what is heavy on the heart. Only Jesus alone, only he alone. Because he is still the Savior today.
The Legacy of the Reformation: Even a Heavy Burden Can Be Bearable
We often have the impression, based on our experiences today, that only God can help us here—if and when He wants to. He wants to, and He can, because He is our caring Father. This is why our reformer ancestors, in the age of the Reformation, which brought much spiritual struggle and strife, when the dawn light of the gospel shone in the darkness, proclaimed "solus Christus," Christ alone. Even today, there can be no less, but also no more, than this as the resource of the believing heart for Protestants, New Protestants, Catholics, and God's believing people throughout the world: only him. Martin Luther was the first to recognize and articulate this: when life pushes us to the brink, into national, family, or personal crises, into the cross-bearing trial of illness, into painful loneliness experienced in community, because "even laughter hurts the heart" (Proverbs 14:13), he encouraged his people thus: "With God's strength, a heavy burden is as light as a straw. Without Him, even a straw is a heavy burden." This was true in 1517, and it will be true in 2026.
Just engrave it in your memory, my brother, sister, and fellow pilgrim in space and time: with God's power, even a heavy burden will become light. For God will be with us through the Word of His Holy Son and the inner, spiritual energy of His Holy Spirit every day until the end of the world. For this reason, and this reason alone, 2026 can be a holy year of hallelujah and praise to God—for you, for me, in Shanghai and Budapest, and everywhere on earth. Walk your path in 2026 with strong faith in God's power! Be certain that "the Lord gives his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2).
