It’s A New Year… New Problems, New Challenges, New Opportunities…but we have hope!

At the beginning of a new year, people make resolutions. What is a resolution, or more specifically, what is a “New Year’s Resolution?” According to the dictionary, a resolution is, “a firm decision to do or not to do something; the quality of being determined or resolute.”  According to author Meg Bucher, a resolution “is a feeling of debate, dispute, and deliberation that takes contributing thoughts and opinions into consideration.” Essentially, a resolution is something that is meant to be “resolved.” For example, a person could resolve to read their Bible daily, pray more, eat better foods, etc. There is a whole host of items that could be mentioned for things that need to be “resolved.”

It is recommended to evaluate our lives in light of Scripture. Many people use this time of “evaluation” as a marker on New Year’s to highlight and revisit some things that need attention in their lives. Spiritually, believers use this time to ponder some of the most important things that need attention in their walk with God. Meaning, they take time to reflect on whether they met their spiritual goals or not. If we could tally up how many people actually reached their New Year’s Spiritual goals from last year, we would probably be astounded at how many did not quite reach it. In fact, it has become so cliché to refer to people making “New Year’s Resolutions,” but then laugh about the thought of how many forsake them in about two weeks.

When it comes to spiritual resolutions, in particular, we need God’s help. In fact, it is impossible to do anything apart from God. Some, however, may decide not to make any New Year’s resolutions this year. That is perfectly fine, but we still need God’s help to live each day. Jonathan Edwards is widely known for saying, “I am unable to do anything without God’s help.” If it were not for Him, we could simply do nothing. Some have quoted Philippians 4:13 as their fighter or life verse, and what a great verse that is! Burk Parsons reminds us, “We must understand that being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us means that we must depend on His strength continuously in order to do all things and to keep all our resolutions.”

There are, however, vital things that we need his help. For instance, we need His help to do the most important things, which are to grow in relationship with Him and help others know Jesus.

In the end, all that matters is that we know and grow in our relationship with Jesus, and tell others about Him. By knowing Him, and making Him known, we can then truly glorify God with our lives. Undoubtedly, we will need His help this year. Our challenge, resolution, and great opportunity, is to know Him more through prayer, Scripture, fellowship, and walking closely with Jesus. May we be faithful to this in the coming year!