Why a New Year really is a big deal …

I’ve been writing a blog for nearly a dozen years, and one of my favorite topics is that of looking toward a New Year.

The reason is because a New Year really is a big deal!

You wouldn’t think that if you listen to all the voices out there, especially those across social media platforms who scoff at people who make New Year resolutions, or who say January 1 is just another day, that turning the page on a calendar doesn’t magically change things.

That last point is true, but they miss the really big picture, which is this: If you’re alive on January 1, you’re potentially on the precipice of another year of life.

I write “potentially” because not everyone alive on January 1 will live to see December 31. But it does mean that God may have granted you another year to live, something He doesn’t owe us and something none of us deserve.

So the “big deal” about a New Year is simply this: You get to live it! The gift of time is life’s great treasure, something we often don’t remember until it’s spent … often unwisely. So imagine standing on January 1 and looking out at the panorama of an entire year … what could you possibly do with it? Here are some ideas:

1. You can grow in your relationship with God. None of us have a relationship with God that doesn’t need growth. We can grow closer to Him, we can know Him better, we can learn more about Him, we can deepen our connection and time with Him. When you consider the single reason we were created was FOR Him, another year of maturing your relationship with God could be the single best use of such a gift of time.

2. You can love God, you can love others, and you be loved. Love is supposed to be the central component in every kind of relationship we have, from family and friends, to neighbors and strangers, even to our worst enemies. We’re commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love everyone else. And in all of that loving, we get the great blessing of being loved back by God and some of the others. What would an entire year punctuated by making love the central component of every relationship in your life look like?

3. You can make disciples. If you’re a follower of Christ, you became His ambassador when He saved you. At that time, the responsibility of people being reconciled to God became part of your responsibility for living! The Apostle Paul explained this privilege and appointment like this:

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!'” 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.

What would an entire year of your life spent lived as an ambassador for Christ look like?

4. You can contribute to the kingdom of God. Being an ambassador for Christ is a chief way of contributing to the kingdom of God, but there’s more than that you can contribute. For example, you can contribute to the kingdom of God by contributing to the body of Christ (“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it,” 1 Corinthians 12:27). Regardless of what you do with that wonderful potentiality of another year of living on this Earth, Jesus assigns a priority to it:

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need,” Matthew 6:33.

What would an entire year of your life look like with this priority firmly and consistently practiced?

5. You can be a good steward of the life God gives you. If you get another year to live, you can build out on the life God has already given you, and by being a good steward of it, make it something that brings glory to God and gladness to your heart.

Another year to live?

That’s nothing to scoff at!

If you get it, what are you going to do with it?

Scotty