New Year, New You
How do you feel about New Year’s resolutions?
For those of you who don’t have resolutions because you believe in making good changes now — keep on keepin’ on! Several habits that I’ve broken or am trying to break did not start at the new year.
On the other hand, I like the whole spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, even if we all know that most of them will be broken by February. (I broke my “workout before work” by day 2 of the year, sooooo…) Something about a new year feels exciting and full of hope.
New years are good times to look at old goals and make new ones. Renew our commitment to those things we know are worthwhile.
This is the Day the Lord Has Made
Christians are called to worship the Lord daily, in everything we do by doing it well and for Him (Col. 3:17, I Cor. 10:31). Yet the Church takes the the first day of the new week to worship Him in a specific and intentional way.
[As an aside, I do not like calling the person leading the songs in church as the “Worship Leader” as though only the singing is worship. The whole service is a worship to the Lord.]
I hope I would never say “Well, I’m going to mess up and take my eyes off Christ this week, might as well not even bother to go to church on Sunday?” As difficult as it is to continue to go to church week after week, it’s necessary to start the week with a fresh focus on our Savior. Worshipping corporately as a local body of believers is a great way to realign our priorities on what really matters, namely, Jesus Christ and His gospel.
On the flip side, that doesn’t mean when our eyes do get off Christ during the week that we should just give up until Sunday again. Repentence — like resolutions — should start as soon as the problem is realized.
While the new year is upon us, with all the fresh hope of a new start, I hope you will join me in looking back and seeing the mighty things God did in 2017 and look forward with anticipation to the work that God will do in 2018.
That’s a resolution I think we can all get behind.
Fruit from the Olive Tree 