New Year’s Resolutions
CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 4 January 2024
Photo courtesy Ryan Wong at FreelyPhotos
Friends in Christ, last week I shared a New Year's prayer you might like to start praying for yourself in 2024, and also suggested some Bible reading plans.
I've been thinking a bit more about New Year's Resolutions. Perhaps I need to do this more than others, since I am not always naturally reflective.
Below I will share two lists that I found helpful. But whether you find such lists encouraging or a little frustrating, make sure you go beyond the lists to the ONE CRUCIAL THING THAT WAS MISSING!
Some good goals for 2024 (Source: Daniel Darling via X/Twitter @dandarling)
read through the Bible;
be faithful in a local church;
find moments to share the gospel;
give other Christians the benefit of the doubt;
apply James 3 to social media;
find opportunities to encourage;
regularly confess and ask forgiveness.
Those seeking to be faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going. Summer holidays at the start of a new year can be a good time to look up and get our bearings. To that end, you could also prayerfully consider Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year or On Your Birthday (from Don Whitney). Here were five of them that stood out to me...
What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
Both lists are potentially helpful. But did you notice that both lists focus on what you will try to do in 2024.
As Christians, we believe we are saved by faith - not by works.
That is, we rely on God's grace, expressed in the finished work of Christ on the cross and in his resurrection.
Now Christians are to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" (Philippians 2:12-13).
But there is a danger that such lists put all the emphasis for biblical growth and spirituality onto our action and effort. That leads to
ONE CRUCIAL THING THAT WAS MISSING from the New Year Resolutions or Goals
What one truth about the gospel of Jesus do you need to believe more this year?
That is, what feature of Christ's person (who he is, eternal Son, Lord, Saviour, Prophet, Priest, King, etc.) or of God's work through Christ (what he achieved for us: forgiveness, adoption, sanctification, reconciliation, etc.) or of Christ's character (faithfulness, obedience, prayerfulness, gentleness, wisdom, courage, integrity) might you benefit from exploring more deeply and relying on more strongly this year?
Maybe ask a friend or a minister for a suggestion about how to go deeper in trusting Christ in 2024.
Warmly in Christ
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney