It’s January, and if you’re like most Americans it means you undoubtedly have a New Year’s resolution; one of the few, truly healthy and culturally acceptable ways to turn some aspect of your life around each year. While I love the built-in motivation of the New Year’s Resolution, even the fact that it exists tells us something important; that very few of us make it to the end of the year as changed people, with changed motivations, and a changed life.
Why is that?
I’d suggest that the reason most of us find our lives caught in the back and forth of this rhythm of self improvement and failure, is because it’s the only way we’ve been taught to live. And yet, Jesus shows us a different way.
Jesus was different. Have you noticed? I don’t just mean the things he said and did – we know he was very different in those ways. I mean who he was. He operated from a distinctly different set of motivations from the men and the culture around him.
He regularly stole away to quiet places, not only to pray, but to be with the one he called “Abba.” his disciples would sometimes not know where he went or what he was doing. It’s like his connection to his Father was his top priority and everything else was a far, distant second.
Which should teach us something.
If you want to reset and restart yourself in a way that actually matters and will stick; you need to be connected to the only thing that matters.
Being connected to your Father needs to become your obsession.
What is it that is #1 in your life? How would your friends describe your passions? Is it sports? A hunting cabin? Your job? Your wife? Your friends? All of these and many other things can be good, but none of them work well as the foundation of your life.
Jesus says that each person who hears his words and puts them into practice is “like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt. 7:24b) The Psalmist describes the same kind of person as like “…a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” (Ps. 1:3)
A strong house.
A healthy, mature tree with deep roots.
Is this how your friends would describe you?
Is this how you would describe yourself?
The strength of a solid foundation comes from the strength of the bedrock beneath it.
The integrity of a tree’s root system comes from the quality of the soil within which it lives.
Most of us have strong convictions to follow Christ and to reset and renew ourselves at this time of the year. But most of us will probably try something new, and when that fails, we’ll try something else.
But what if the power you’re looking for is not something you can try harder to have access to?
My challenge to you this year is simple: Be like Jesus. In his relationship with his Abba, there was very little trying to be anything other than the beloved of God.
No amount of trying will make a child any more a child. My children are my children, and no effort on their part will make them any more or less my child. They just are. They’re stuck with me. For life.
This was the simple truth that Jesus knew and lived out in his moment to moment, daily life. He knew that He was beloved by His Abba, Father.
So my challenge to you this year is to be like Jesus, with the emphasis on the word “be.” Find a friend who you can share with and begin to journey to reset the way you tend to think and operate, and to live from the simplicity of your relationship with God.
And with God’s help your life will look brand new.
Nate serves as the Director of Ministries for No Regrets Men’s Ministry. He is passionate about Jesus and helping people recognize His presence in their lives. This passion has led him to serve in many areas of ministry including with discipleship, worship, youth, and men. Nate graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary (MATM). He and his wife, Tricia, have two young sons. In his free time Nate loves spending time with his family, playing and writing music, soccer, paddle boarding, reading, writing, and hanging out with friends.
