Happy New You

When you hear the words “New Year,” what thoughts come to mind? Are you excited at the thought of turning one page of your life and getting on to the next? Do thoughts of anxiety and remorse come as you contemplate the missed opportunities or unfinished projects that you’ll leave behind as a reminder to your failings in the previous year? Or like myself, do you moan and groan as you think about having to come up with new “resolutions” or commitments that will better yourself and the world around you in the coming 365 days? After all, what’s so important about a calendar flip, anyway? What’s really changed in your heart and your attitude when we recognize a different year? Sunday will still come after Saturday, and the electricity in your house will still flow the same way as it did on December 31^st. If that much is true, how then can one truly experience a new year?

If we are true to ourselves, a New Year’s promise is only as good as the Old Year’s promiser! That is to say, the person who had no control over their eating in the old year is likely not to flip a magical switch at the stroke of midnight and eat twigs and berries for 52 weeks. Likewise, the person who has never given any thought to the way they manage money or credit card usage will probably not do an about face, tear up the credit cards and live modestly. The rub comes not in the resolution but the resolution maker! Weight-loss, saving money, and beginning other disciplines are noble tasks – yet even the noblest of efforts will fall to the wayside if not buoyed with a change of the heart and attitude.

Let me make a suggestion for the worshipper in 2006: “take hold to Christ who has already taken hold to you.” The pounds may or may not fall off. The money may or may not appear in your bank account. These things are difficult if not impossible to predict or guarantee. But if there’s one thing that we can count on with full certainty, it’s this: if we don’t make Christ the very center of our being and motivation in 2006, we’ll be standing in the mirror in 2007 and asking all the same questions once again.

Resonate Themes
Place of Christ in Our Lives
God’s Control in the World
Changed Hearts and Minds
Renewal and Revival