More times than I can count in the past year I have been accused of pontification, but that is what I do as a writer who always tries to deliver a deeply-felt message, sometimes popular and other times no so popular. In sharing with readers, more often than not I think things through as I write -- and perhaps selfishly, for my own benefit. This is all by way of saying that my one New Years resolution is to steer clear of "pontification" where ever possible. So on this last day of 2017, I indulge myself one final time. It is going to be difficult expressing myself in the future, but we'll see.
An old Irish New Year’s toast goes like this, “May all your troubles in the coming year be as short as your New Year’s resolutions.”
A new calendar tells us that we have been given a fresh gift to build and change our lives. Every new year and every new day is an opportunity to get it “righter” than the day before and the year before.
Ideally, our focus and priorities must no longer be centered in the things of this earth, but on the things of a spiritual nature. This, of course, is a very real challenge, because we still have to live in the real world, with all of its stress and struggle.
Focusing on spiritual things does not remove the stress and struggle altogether, but it certainly makes a huge difference in our ability to both survive and thrive. As we try to live a more spiritually focused life in the new year, here are a few Bible-inspired practical priorities. Please bear with me for a few minutes, if you can spare the time.
Priority #1 - Forget About Yesterday:
The Apostle Paul wrote, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)
As we know, Paul was a man who had some things from his past that could haunt him if he let them. He had made some terrible mistakes that brought great suffering to others.
There is not one of us who doesn’t have something negative in our past that could immobilize us.
Failures, hurts, disappointments happen to all of us. But God, I am sure, does not want us dwelling on them. He would rather have us come to Him for forgiveness and healing of yesterday's pain.
It is a gift that we can walk in newness of life, that we can forget those things in the past and live in the present. So that’s a good place for us to start the new year -- to forget about yesterday.
Priority #2 -- Don't worry about tomorrow:
I know that this one is easier said than done. Tomorrow can be so overwhelming with the potential for pain and insufficiency.
Jesus gave us this prescription, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Those words were taken from Matthew 6.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Corrie Ten Boom, who had suffered greatly in her life said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrows; it empties today of strength.” Our only hope and help is in trust and faith. Whatever we face in the new year, we will be better off if we make it a priority to forget the past, and not worry about the future.
Priority #3 - Make Today Count:
The famous funny man, Groucho Marx, said, “Yesterday is gone and tomorrow isn’t here yet. I have just one day - today - and I can choose how I shall be! And I choose to be happy!!” True enough, the only day we have and literally the only moment we have is now. We are not promised tomorrow, nor
even the rest of today!
Psalm 118:24 puts it this way, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Focusing on one day at a time frees us from the burden of the past, and the worry of the future.
Priority #4 - Help Every Person You Can:
When we focus all our attention on ourselves, we get lost in our struggles, but when we turn our
attention outward, we realize the tremendous blessing of helping others. It helps to remind ourselves that every person we encounter is facing some kind of challenge, or is carrying some kind of heartache. Our own personal struggles or heartaches may be bigger or smaller than theirs, it makes no difference.
If we seek to be a blessing to those we meet, then both parties will be blessed. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” In the chapter before that one, Paul beautifully summarized the Christian life with these words, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” We tend to forget that point in coping with the rigors of today's busy and often demanding world.
As we move into this new year, let’s make it a priority to claim God’s promises and in so doing walk by faith. And when we know that there is something we should do or change, let’s not delay in acting on the impulse.
The old Nike commercial, “Just Do It,” is a good recipe when following the inner voice that exists in all of us.
May the New Year be filled with happiness and contentment, my friend! You deserve every bit of it.
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