Renewed Resolutions
The first month of year is always a time when people enact their New Year’s resolutions. This yearly tradition is a time for us to take an assessment of ourselves, realign our priorities, and try to establish a renewed foundation that will make for the best possible year ahead. Often our resolutions have to do with a way for us to live a better, more full life. We resolve to live healthier by exercising or changing our diet. We may also change our priorities so that we are able to spend more time with family and live life to the fullest. Some may decide to budget financial resources differently in order to save more and spend less. All of these things we decide to do in order to make the most out of each day of our lives that are gifts from God.
When we initiate these resolutions on the first day of a new year, it is always done with good intentions. We truly and wholeheartedly want to make the best of the gift of life. This is not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. By recognizing areas in our life that need improvement and resolving to change we honor God by caring the best we can for the image of God we reflect. We also are honoring the important people that surround us in life because we are being the best we can for others that may depend on us or journey with us through life. Yet no matter how good our intentions are when making resolutions, often we get to this point in the year and our old routines come creeping back in. The familiar and habitual things in our lives quickly start coming back to being the norm.
While being able to truthfully and honestly assess our own lives and recognize where change is needed is a commendable thing to do each year, it is not something that we must wait until January 1 to do. Of course in the rhythm of life it happens that this time of year it is common to look to the past and plan ahead for the future. But I think as Christian disciples we are constantly being led to assess our lives, the new situations we find ourselves in, and the new ways we are being called to be the light of Christ in the world. God is always working in the world in new and unexpected ways. This can be seen throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. Often the new ways in which God works surprise people. It is not the way things have always been done. Wouldn’t it be easier just to stick with the familiar ways of doing things? Changing to keep up with the work of God in the world is not always easy but that is often the way God works. For example, when Jesus came to redeem the world and offer salvation and forgiveness of sins, it was an unexpected change in the ways in which God had worked in the past and many people resisted. To be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and fulfill the church’s mission of transforming the world, often we must transform first.
So what does all of this have to do with a New Year’s resolution? Well, often we limit our resolutions to things associated with our health or habits. Less often we consider the ways in which we can resolve to have a more robust and faithful spiritual life. Perhaps we should seek to resolve the ways in which our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ can change so that we may have a renewed life in Christian faith. This could begin with a renewed dedication to reading Scripture. By establishing a rhythm of regular time to read Scripture our life of discipleship can become stronger. Likewise, resolving to commit to a more full life of prayer we can live completely into our calling to discipleship. From these changes in our lives and a renewed spirit to follow Christ, we will be able to discern and then follow the new and life-giving ways in which God is present and working in the world.
From the Gospel lesson this past week in Mark 1:14-20, we hear about Jesus calling the first disciples. Christ simply says, “Follow me,” and they stop what they are doing and commit their lives to following Christ. This same calling to discipleship is given to us. It doesn’t come at a particular time of year. It is a summons that is continually present in our lives. Perhaps the greatest thing we can resolve to do this year, and each day of our lives, is to commit ourselves anew each day to following this calling and being a disciple of Jesus Christ. For this, may we transform the world for the glory of God this day and always!
With Peace and Love, Adam
