Happy New Year!
May 2023 be the best year ever for you and yours.
Right or wrong, illogical or not, New Year’s Day is a good time to make resolutions. Yeah, maybe it is an excuse to procrastinate (e.g. Why didn’t you start doing X or Y months ago?) Maybe we are setting ourselves up for failure (when we resolve to do something we’ve failed at before, e.g. a diet). Maybe we are just fooling ourselves.
But, isn’t it better than giving up?
Yes. It. is.
Assuming I’m correct, how should we choose what makes the list?
As 2022 came to a close, I realized that I have been prioritizing wrongly. That how my spend my time does not reflect what is really important. That modern blessings have become a curse.
As such, this year I have only two resolutions:
- To love the Lord my God with all my heart and all of my soul and all of my mind
- To love my neighbor as myself
(See Matthew 22:34-40.)
In the “Which are better, systems or goals?” debate, I would argue those are a system. I also have goals for 2023 (e.g. to slim down, to learn to play the keyboard, to become proficient with Python), but I intend to weigh how I spend what little time I have left on this earth by those two measures.
In line with #2, loving you as myself, I ask you to consider choosing the same two resolutions, definitely so if you are a Christian.
For the non-Christian, I would suggest that everybody worships something, whether we admit (or recognize) it or not, and that may mean it better you just have #2. If what you worship makes #2 impossible or difficult, then you are undeniably devoted to the wrong god.
For the Christian, if you live in a country like the United States, it is likely your blessings are a curse too. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9). However, the Lord our God makes it clear through His Word that “easy believism” is bogus and may instead indicate you don’t truly believe. (Take a look at the Epistle of James, John 14:15, and Luke 6:46 to start.)
A simple barometer of our faith is how we spend our “elective” time. Look at the things you do every day. Look at how much time you spend on each item.
Then ask yourself if you really put God first and love your neighbor as yourself…
…while thoughtfully considering the wise words of a non-Christian, physicist Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Back to the non-Christian, please reconsider who you worship. I explain more on my Gospel Claims site.
To everyone, I truly wish the best this year for you and yours. At the end of my thought for todays, I end with, “I love you, see you again soon.” I come up short on loving you as myself…and I definitely come up short on putting God first. But, I am working on it and committed to those resolutions.
Will you join me?
P.S. In addition to the image above (full-sized version), feel free to use these two 2023 calendars to help remind you of what is really important:
Continue reading “2023 New Year’s Resolutions”
