“It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” - Philippians 1:20
Happy New Year! It seems unbelievable that 2020 is already here. I, like most people, love new beginnings. The start of a new year is an opportunity to set new goals. It is an opportunity to make changes and to do better. It can even be a time to leave behind guilt, excuses and regret and make things right. Today, 2020 is ripe with possibilities and not failures. It is fresh with hope and not disappointment.
There is only one problem…it is day one. By day 27 or so things will likely feel drastically different. It could be a circumstance that will be out of our control; or it might be our own personal struggle to make the changes we so desperately want and need to make. Regardless of how it comes disappointment, defeat and failure are sure to smear all over the beautiful, clean canvas of 2020. There is no way to avoid it. Life just happens.
Depressing, isn’t it? I don’t mean to crush the hope you have for the year ahead. I’m a realist, though. Utopia does not exist, not in this world. So how can we have the outlook that Paul has in Philippians 1:20? How can we, too, have expectant hope that we will not be ashamed by the end of this year? How can we have fearless confidence that Christ will be magnified in our lives this year – even though we know there will be twists and turns and failures that make us want to give up trying?
I challenge you to make a new kind of resolution this year. Instead of a list of goals you would have to be superman to keep, how about just one for 2020? I challenge us all to write this on the clean slate of our new year:
I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for God and God alone this year.
This is not a New Year’s resolution, but instead a New Day’s resolution. You see, a year is made up of days; and we don’t have to wait until 2020 to get our fresh start when we stumble. Lamentations 3:22-23 promises that His mercies are new every morning. That means each new day is a blank page…a fresh start…a new opportunity to say, “I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for God and God alone this day.”
Father, Thank You for the plans You have for me in 2020. More than anything, I want to give my all for Your glory to be displayed through my life. I confess that this is impossible without Your Son, Jesus living in me. Through the power of Your Spirit, please help me to live absolutely and entirely for You alone this year.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Topics: Glory
