A New Year’s Resolution Recommendation
Only for certain people, however.
If you are a billionaire where money no longer matters, this isn’t for you. Same for dictators and tyrants, macro and micro.
If you make a living or receive retirement income from any government or taxpayer supported institution, this may not be for you. (I’m in this category, so I have to pay attention here as well).
If you attend, teach, or work at an institution of higher learning along with all public K-12 schools then, again, this may not be for you.
If you promote woke ideas in the workplace, then this will threaten your employment.
How to determine if my recommendation is meant for you is simple to determine at the level, not of groups, but of individuals. You must decide for yourself alone.
Do you fear God? If you do, read on. If not, you are free to read on but it doesn’t apply to you.
So here is my suggested resolution for both you and me.
I resolve in 2024 to spend more time in knowing God and with Gods people than I do watching and reading current event information.
Those who fear God understand where wisdom comes from. They have a completely different view of reality — one not understood by unbelievers and therefore often held in contempt. Believers stand with puny David and his little sling. Unbelievers stand with whoever looks the strongest in a fight. But David and every hero like him behaved differently for a reason. They cultivated their relationship with God. They loved him more than they feared anything else.
If you are one of the faithful you should by now be able to see the battle lines clear enough to understand that there are mighty forces arrayed against you. This has always been the case, only now it is easier to see. And because it is easier to see and more is revealed every day, it is more important than ever going forward that you make it a personal resolution to not become overly focused on the enemy. To do so increases anxiety.
Instead, we must spend more time than we have up to now focusing on our champion who happens to be the creator of both ourselves and everything else. We have been placed in a time such as this for a reason. We have the opportunity to be light in an increasingly darkening world. But our light is not our own. It comes from God and is packaged in love-photons. We express love, forgiveness, patience, kindness, encouragement — and the little we do is then multiplied in God’s hand.
Because this light is not our own we must spend more time in God’s light than in the enemy’s darkness. It’s a matter of balance. We are to be in the world but not of it.
At first it might seem that I am advocating ignorance in current events. This is not the case because you know as well as I do that there is little need for instant information from the world. Rather, our information can come to us well enough if we spend a few hours one day a week over a few hours every day. It’s a matter of reorientation not elimination. And this is true as well about escape behaviors. It is good to rest and enjoy recreation, but we can’t hide in it and remain spiritually healthy and growing.
All healthy spiritual disciplines involve rest, prayer, meditation, and focus away from worry and toward hope. They also are best accomplished and most helpful when in community. Relationships are key. They focus us away from self and toward both the needs and support of others. This is why God connects the love of people with loving him. We can’t honestly say we love God without loving others. And in darker days when there are forces aligned against us, this resolution is to focus on the blessings way more than the problems. In the end God wins, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
What a fantastic resolution to take into the new year! Long ago we sang the first verses of this passage as a song of praise, so it has a special place in my heart.