New Year’s Resolutions
by: Richman Priestley
January 1, 2025
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
I want to ask you, what are your resolutions and goals for this next year? Whatever they may be, I urge you not to go searching for the answers to them outside of Jesus. Times and seasons change, people may come into our lives and go, but Jesus remains the same (Hebrews 13:8).
Maybe these past few seasons have been riddled with anxiety for you. Jesus is your peace (Ephesians 2:14). Maybe you’ve been discouraged. He is the God of encouragement (Romans 15:5). Maybe you don’t have close friends. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Maybe it’s been a while since you have had stability. He is your rock (Psalm 62:2).
If you’re judgmental, Jesus is merciful (Luke 6:36). If you want to acquire more wisdom, Jesus is wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24). If you're dealing with pride, nobody is more humble than Jesus (Matthew 10:29)
Maybe you're having a hard time forgiving someone. Jesus forgave you first (Ephesians 4:32). Maybe you’re facing spiritual burnout. He remains passionate (Deuteronomy 4:24). Maybe you’ve felt overlooked. God is attentive (Hebrews 6:10). Maybe you’re mourning the loss of a loved one. Jesus knows what that’s like (John 11:35).
If you’re dealing with betrayal, Jesus knows how you feel (John 13:21). Maybe you want to learn how to pray. Jesus will teach you (Luke 11:2). Maybe you want to fall in love. Make Jesus your first love (Revelation 2:4). Maybe you want a calling. Jesus is your calling (Philippians 3:14). Maybe you want to grow in serving others. Jesus is our servant (John 13). Maybe you want to be a better leader, then you must learn to follow (Luke 22:26). Maybe you want to be more generous. God gave us Jesus (John 3:16). If you’re unfaithful, He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). If your soul is in turmoil, in Jesus you will find your rest (Matthew 10:28). Maybe you simply want more of God. Then you must empty yourself (Luke 9:23). Whatever your need may be, whatever it is that you want, Jesus is your answer (Philippians 4:19).
Jesus loves to meet our needs and is eager to, but what is it that he graciously asks of us in return? What is the key to getting our so-called needs met? In the kingdom of God, there is a system. Jesus makes us a deal in Matthew 6:33. He says, if in the pursuit of your needs, you stop and you make my needs your top priority while putting yours to the side, all these other things you tend to worry and stress about will be added unto you. Not only is it a good deal, but it is in the pursuit of his needs that you begin to discover that the only thing you ever desired in the first place was one thing - Him. He wants us to lay our lives down at his feet, surrendering all to him without conditions. Then, when you have fully given yourself to him, there is now room in your heart for him to give himself fully to you. His love language is surrender.
The thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t solely want to help us achieve our dreams. He wants to become our dream. He wants to be that which we long for, the one that we dream about. Now someone may naturally ask, ‘“Well, does God not care about my dreams?!” And that’s the thing, he does care about our dreams. He just loves us too much to allow us to be in charge of them. Additionally, sometimes it’s those dreams we hold onto that is the exact thing the Lord is trying to protect us from. If we aren’t careful, our dreams can actually take God’s rightful place in our hearts.
David says to us in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” What if here, instead of saying that God gives us what we want, it was actually that God gave us what to want, until our desires line up with his. Until God’s dreams become our dreams.
So what if God himself had New Year’s resolutions? What is on his heart for 2025? What if instead of it being something new or fancy it was just the same ole thing: surrender. God waits for the moment that we will fully give ourselves to him. The moment when we allow him to fully lead us, fully love us, fully reveal himself to us.
Just as we said, times may change, but God remains the same. Full surrender will always be God’s standard for Christianity. Half-hearted Christianity deeply upsets God (Revelation 3:14). It’s foreign to him because he is so passionate for us. In God’s eyes, 90% surrender isn’t surrender at all. So what if we made 2025 the year that we fully gave ourselves to God, trusted him to lead us, and submitted our dreams and goals to him? I believe that is what is on his heart for this year.
Furthermore, I think that is all he ever wanted in the first place. The alarming thing about being a Christian who attends church is that you can mistakenly allow yourself to believe that if you skip the surrender part, you can move right into the ‘deeper things of God’. This is not the case. God never graduates us from surrender because he knows that our greatest fulfillment lies right on the other side of it.
Worship: The More I Seek You
Prayer
Take this time to sit in stillness and ask the Lord to help you surrender.
Further Study
1 Samuel 1:19, Proverbs 25:2
Related Posts
Seeking the knowledge of the Lord (the ways, truth, and life) and aligning with His will is our calling as Christians. Reading, studying, partaking in the Word, hearing from fellow believers, dreams and visions, and personal encounters are all ways in which we can come to know the Lord.