New Year’s resolutions are not for everyone, but progress is essential for every believer.
We all have things we want to change, a running list that keeps getting longer each year. The New Year is a great time for resolutions, but regardless of our good intentions, we often fall short of our own standards.
Sometimes our resolutions are unrealistic. We are trying to run before we can walk. I just bought a house this last year (one that needs to be fixed up). I thought that I could do most of the work on my own. I didn’t. Apart from a few small improvements, my brand new tools are still waiting to be used.
While there are new mercies every morning, it seems our ghosts of resolutions past haunt us over time. The burden of guilt and disappointment in ourselves can even cause us to fizzle out before we have started.
In 1961, Vince Lombardi was leading the Green Bay Packers into a new season after narrowly losing the NFL Championship Game. On the first day of training camp, he picked up a football, and holding it in front of a seasoned team of professionals, told them, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Starting with the basics, he built the team back up and lead them to an overwhelming victory.
Getting back to the basics is usually met with considerable grumbling and complaining. We don’t want to talk about things we feel we already understand. We want to learn new things that will help us get out of our slump. Where trying the same old thing and expecting different results doesn’t work, chasing after the next new fad often leaves us lost and confused.
Instead of fighting against the problems that we face every year, we should consider our goals by getting back to the basics of the Christian faith.
Are We Worshipping God?
Reading through the Bible in a year, following a daily devotional plan, and memorizing more Scripture are all great resolutions, but they should not be the ultimate goal. The purpose of reading the Bible is to discover God so that our hearts will be moved to worship Him.
While we could all spend more time in the Bible every day, we should be asking ourselves how much of it is leading us to worship. When I was a kid, my dad posed a challenge for our church: every week we would submit how many chapters of the Bible we had read. Wanting to post big numbers, I hacked the system. I would flip through the pages of my Bible and find the shortest chapters. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t actually retain much from that exercise.
Rather than setting a record of how much Scripture we can read in a year, maybe we should read less and pause longer to contemplate what we’ve read. Before changing the page, we should ask ourselves if we understand what we are reading. Slowing down with a commentary or cross reference may help us build a greater understanding of the overarching picture in the text. Another idea is to have our daily Bible reading follow the sermons we hear on Sunday or in our small group Bible study.
Repetition is crucial for cultivating a habit of daily devotions. However, over time, it can feel like we are just going through the motions without actually making any progress. This can actually harm our goal of worshipping God. The disciplines of fasting and solitude are not meant to be practiced daily, but they serve as much needed interruptions to our daily routines so that our worship will remain fresh and renewed.
Are We Following Christ?
It is one thing to worship God and read our Bibles every day, but we have to consider if our knowledge is working itself out on a practical level. Is the hiding of God’s Word in our hearts killing sin in our lives? Is the renewing of our mind transforming us into the image of Christ?
We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus in order to follow Him. That means that we need to be reminded of the gospel every day, every hour, and every minute. Taking up our cross daily is not just a burden of responsibility, it is the reminder of Christ’s sacrifice that gives us the strength to deny ourselves.
In doing our daily devotions, we ought to look for the gospel on every page. This isn’t very hard, but if we are not intentional, we will miss it. Our minds are naturally drawn to the biblical commands, moral lessons, or theological distinctives. We have to seek for the gospel, but when we find it we will be rewarded.
As we see and hear the gospel every day, as we taste and see that God is good, we will overflow with Christ’s grace and mercy. Then, what is full in our hearts will be fresh on our lips to share with others. Even our actions will change as we choose to demonstrate the fullness of the grace that we have received. This is what it means to be a disciple.
Are We Loving Others?
Jesus said that love would be the most notable characteristic distinguishing us as Christians. The Apostle Paul lauds the importance of Faith and Hope while pointing out that Love is the greatest. What makes love so important is that it is both the motivation for our actions and the result of Christ’s actions. We love others because we have first been loved by God.
This is one of those categories where we are quick to give ourselves a passing grade. However, Christian love is measured by sacrificing our own interests for the undeserving, not simply appreciating people we already like. True love can exist without any reciprocation.
If we are going to examine our love for others, we are going to have to ask, “Who are our neighbors?” When a religious leader asked Jesus this question, He shared the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Later, when Jesus was invited to dinner with a Pharisee, He told the Parable of the Great Banquet. Both stories scolded those who would only do what was right if there was something for themselves to gain. The gospel principle is that God loved us while we were still His enemies and Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners.
We need a greater knowledge of God’s holiness in order to have a greater appreciation for His love. When we remember how much we have been forgiven, we will be more gracious with others. If love the world needs more love, and it does, and love comes from God, then we need to spend more time in awe of the one who gave up His life for us.
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New Year’s resolutions are not for everyone, but progress is essential for every believer. While getting back to the basics might not be the most exciting objective, it might end up being the most rewarding.