Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. [Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)]
The tradition of New Year’s resolutions goes back over 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians (whose new year began in mid-March with the spring equinox). During their 12-day celebration called Akitu, they either crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the old one. To ensure the gods’ favor, they promised to return borrowed items and pledged the repayment of all their debts.
Around 46 BC, Julius Caesar altered the calendar and began the year in January to honor the two-faced Janus—the Roman god who could look back into the past and forward into the future at the same time. Romans believed that the rest of the year would go pleasantly if that was how they spent its first day. Trying to spend January 1st as happily as possible, there were games, feasts, gifts, sweet treats, and plenty of wine while complaint, gossip, and quarrels were avoided. By making sacrifices to Janus and promising to live a better life, Romans believed the year ahead would bring prosperity and success.
Did you spend yesterday as pleasantly as possible—with no spats or spite? Did you start the new year with a resolution or two? While pledging to become a better person in the coming year or promising to return borrowed items and pay one’s debts are good goals for 2025, the majority of our New Year’s resolutions usually have something to do with health, exercise, or diet.
Before resolving to floss, eat more vegetables, or run a 5K, we should pray and ask God what He would like to see us change. “Search me, O God,” is what could be called a dangerous prayer because, when we ask God to search, we should be ready for what He finds. Chances are that it will have nothing to do with developing better dental or nutrition habits.
Asking God to examine our innermost being is like asking Him to perform exploratory surgery in search of sin. While a surgeon may not find a malignancy, God is sure to find plenty of areas in our lives that need excising or change. In medicine, a surgeon usually removes a malignancy if it is found. In God’s hospital, it’s a little different. If He finds disease or malignancy in our hearts, after pointing it out, He expects us to repent and turn away from it.
According to Drive Research, only 9% of those who make New Year’s resolutions successfully keep them all year. Sadly, our spiritual goals can fail as readily as the non-spiritual ones. For 20 years, one Christ-following friend has resolved to read the Bible, cover-to-cover; so far, she’s not gotten past Leviticus! Perhaps we’d do better if we remember that we can’t change by ourselves. While will-power alone might keep us away from Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme (at least for a while), it’s not enough when we’re combating spiritual enemies. Fortunately, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and, through Him, all things are possible—even reading the Bible.
Let us remember that Jesus is in the business of transformation. He transformed water into wine, the blind into the sighted, the lame into the strong, and the diseased into the healthy. He changed the churning sea into calm water, a few morsels of food into a feast, and the dead into the living. Jesus’ miracles of transformation continue today. He turns darkness into light, anger into peace, fear into hope, animosity into love, selfishness into generosity, mourning into joy, shame into honor, and sinners into saints. If you’re still not sure what your resolution should be, you can always borrow Jonathon Edward’s: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will”
May you have a blessed new year.
The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. [G. K. Chesterton]
It was a web day at the park and I don’t mean the world-wide kind. It was one of those days when the morning dew, mist, and light cooperated in such a way that we saw beautiful intricate spider webs hanging everywhere. Looking as if they were made of strands of silver rather than proteinaceous silk extruded from a spider’s spinnerets, it seemed like the spiders had decorated all the trees in celebration of Christmas.
For those of us who attend liturgical churches, yesterday was the last Sunday of the liturgical (or church) year: Christ the King Sunday. A kind of liturgical “New Year’s Eve,” it is the climax and conclusion of the Church’s year.
God took Heaven’s best—the Lord Jesus Christ—to redeem earth’s worst! [Billy Graham]
Just finishing its 5th season, the Food Network’s “Outrageous Pumpkins” features remarkable pumpkin artistry. This year’s competition matched up 14 of the nation’s best carvers into teams and challenged them to create over-the-top pumpkin creations. The pumpkin artists created horrific nightmares, constructed grisly crime scenes, and fashioned monstrous mechanical battling beasts. Using everything from melon ballers to huge saws, they they sculpted extraordinary and intricate ghouls, witches, wizards, goblins, werewolves, and monsters. As someone who is severely pumpkin-challenged (and eventually purchased a permanent Jack O-Lantern complete with an electric light), I’m amazed by the skill of these artists.
Many years ago, while my son and his pals were playing baseball in the field next to the Miller house, the ball ended up going through the Miller’s window! When my son returned home, he asked me to call Mrs. Miller and ask for the return of his ball. Once I knew how the ball came to be in her possession, I told him he had to pay for the broken window before getting back his ball. So, for the next few weeks, the boy worked extra chores to pay off his debt.
Devotions of the Heart 