New Year, New You—God's Way Part I
Do you ever make New Year resolutions? I usually do. Sometimes I even follow through on them. Like last year when I resolved to gain about ten pounds and eat more mashed potatoes. Rocked that goal!
No, I actually made a resolution to go to the gym first thing every morning as soon as I get out of bed—and I have. Which probably kept me from gaining another ten pounds—it’s hard to outrun those potatoes, especially when they’re being chased by the Lutheran beverages I like to wash them down with.
Seriously though, resolving to do better is a good thing. I think we all know that.
But what people think is better and worth working toward has changed over the years. In 1947 a Gallup Poll showed these as the top ten New Year’s resolutions:
1. Improve my disposition, be more understanding, control my temper
2. Improve my character, live a better life
3. Stop smoking, smoke less
4. Save more money
5. Stop drinking, drink less
6. Be more religious, go to church more often
7. Be more efficient and do a better job
8. Take better care of my health
9. Take a greater part in home life
10. Lose (or gain) weight
What’s up with those freaks? Along with quitting bad habits and being more healthy, people also wanted to improve their character and follow through on their faith by going to church more. Ah the good old days.
Gallup did the same poll last year and those things didn’t make the list.
1. Lose weight
2. Get organized
3. Spend less, save more
4. Enjoy life to the fullest
5. Stay fit and healthy
6. Learn something exciting
7. Quit smoking
8. Fulfill personal dreams
9. Fall in love
10. Spend more time with family
Looks like we gave up on drinking but are still trying to quit smoking—I’ll bet the substance being smoked has changed for some people. Notice a difference in the overall goals? These days it’s more about living our lives to the fullest and self fulfillment. Which aren’t bad things but we seem to have lost the sense of shared values and community—goals that benefit other people. Still, in both lists, it comes down to the human longing for self-improvement and a fresh start—ideas that deeply resonate across time. We want to do better at things that are important to us.
I think the reason so many of our well intentioned resolutions fail is because we focus on WHAT we're trying to change but don’t really get to the heart of HOW we’re going to change it.
Our big ideas usually boil down to “Stop doing something bad” and “Start doing something good.” But what if that ignores a basic theological reality? That the only way we’re ever really going to have lasting and meaningful change in our lives is if it comes from outside us? Not by our will power but by receiving what we need from a source greater than ourselves—something more reliable and beyond our abilities. Or more to the point, someone far more powerful than we are. Someone who cares a lot more about our well being than even we do. I think those people in 1947 were onto something—the ones that understood what they were looking for could only come from God. Be more religious, go to church more often—draw closer to God and listen to Him.
Proverbs 16:3 says,
"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established."
Whatever you resolve to do this year, if you really want to accomplish it, start by committing your goals to God. Which includes making sure they’re goals that actually go with His plans and purposes for your life.
Romans 12:2 gets at this idea where it says,
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
What does it mean to be conformed to the world? People have a lot of different ideas about what a good life is supposed to look like—ideas that are ingrained into all of us just by living on this planet. We all have a lot of bad notions that are really baked into our hearts and minds. An inclination toward things that are ultimately bad for us—this is what the Bible means by being conformed to the world. We have a magnetic attraction toward sin, a gravitational pull of selfish stupidity that we tend to be mostly unaware of. Left to our own way of thinking and doing things, we’ll believe all the lies our culture throws at us and cling to things that just make us more and more miserable. To be conformed to this world is to go along with all the madness that keeps it spiraling deeper and deeper into darkness and wickedness.
The solution is to be transformed by the renewal of your mind—to test what you think you know against the will of God—what He says is good and acceptable and perfect.
And you might be like, “Well how do I know what God thinks?” But He has told you. You might not have paid attention, you might not have listened, you might have ignored Him, or rejected it outright—but He has told you what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I’ll bet you have a Bible at home.
Oh, the eye-rolling! “Read your freakin’ Bible—is that your solution to everything?”
Well, here’s the question: Do you want your plans to succeed or not? If you do, you need to make sure they align with God’s plans for you. How do you do that? Well, the answer isn’t going to be inside you. You won’t figure it out by laying in bed “doom-casting” about all the things you’re worried about. Not by tuning in to all those voices in mass media echoing each other and jumping off the cliff holding hands like lemmings on parade. Not by listening to people on social media or the news or talk shows who are just trying to say what they think their audience wants to hear so they can get more “likes” and “subscribes.”
How do we find out if our plans align with God’s plans? We need to listen to Him.
How do we listen to God? Sit in the woods and watch the sunset?
People say they feel closer to God in nature than they do in church. “I’d rather be out fishing thinking about God than sitting in church thinking about fishing.” Okay, but your thoughts about God aren’t exactly going to tell you anything new.
We went for a walk in Terry Hershey Park on New Year’s Day—it was pretty, it was nice to be outside with my family, but none of the sticks we picked up told us about Jesus. None of the rocks we threw in the water gave us any direction for how to live our lives. The heavens and the earth, all creation declares the glory of God but only in a general way—that there is a God—it doesn’t tell us His name. It doesn’t tell us how to live our lives, or what He’s done to save us. That’s what the Bible is for.
When I was growing up, we had a bookshelf with a few books on it. There was a set of encyclopedias my grandma had bought from a door to door salesman. A couple of cookbooks and a King James Bible. There was also a copy of “I’m Ok, You’re Ok”—one of the first self-help books, basically saying we can all become better people through self-awareness and intentional growth. It has some good ideas on how to communicate with respect and have personal boundaries but it starts with the flawed assumption that deep down, we’re all OK. Follow your heart, listen to your heart, all that pop psychology of the 60s that sent us into the cultural downward spiral we’re still swimming in.
We should have paid more attention to that King James Bible but it remained unopened until God got ahold of me when I was 14. I started reading it. I started going to church. I found out about Jesus and God started changing me into the person He wanted me to be.
It was going to be a long, slow process. It continues to be a long, slow process.
I took that big Bible written in Shakespearean English up to my room and read about the creation and fall in Genesis, the story of Abraham and Moses and the Ten Commandments—David and Goliath, Solomon—and all those stories about deeply messed up people trusting in God’s promises to save them in spite of how terrible they were. Homer Simpson said, “I read the Bible. Pretty much full of terrible people… except for that one guy.” And he’s not wrong. The Bible is full of people just like us who fall short and break all their New Year’s resolutions. But the beauty is the story of the Bible isn’t about all those failures—it’s about the One Guy who makes it all right. Eventually I read about Jesus and came to understand how God came into this world to save His people—to save me.
I finished the Bible for the first time when I was 15, and then I started over—this time with the Living Bible—The Way. I liked it so much I gave it as Christmas presents that year. Then I started over with the NIV. Each time, God showed me different things, different verses came alive to me. I grew in my faith. The long, slow process of renewing my mind and finding out who God wants me to be.
Reading the Bible isn’t about learning a bunch of facts so you can rock at Bible Trivia. It’s not really about transmitting a bunch of information about God to us—it’s purpose is to actually give us an encounter with Him. The Bible is how God promises to speak to us. It’s alive and active.
Hebrews 4:12 says,
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
It does things to us.
God breathed these words by His Spirit—reading these words will change us, give us life, hope, meaning, direction. It’s not like other books. God promises these words will not return to Him without accomplishing what He wants to accomplish.
2 Timothy 3:16 says,
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."
These are some of the things it does to us.
As followers of Jesus, He expects us to be immersed in His word. To continually walk through the pages of Scripture, the Biblical story spread throughout those 66 books, written by 40 authors over 1500 years, but miraculously telling one coherent story about how God is saving His creation through Jesus. There’s nothing else like it. Every page of Scripture is signed at the bottom, “Love, Jesus!” Every page whispers His name. Every word echoes with the sound of His voice.
God’s word is how He gets things done.
When God created the universe He spoke. “Let there be light!” His word is the power of creation. Of life. Of salvation.
The Gospel of John begins with a retelling of the creation account focused on Jesus being there and making it happen. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." Then it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.
We don’t read the Bible because we worship the Bible. We worship Jesus. We read the Bible because He said everything in it points to Him.
You want to know Jesus? Read the Bible. That’s who it’s about. You want to know what life is supposed to be about? It’s supposed to be about following Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to God and salvation. The only way life is going to make sense—the only way it’s going to work.
If you want to understand anything in this life, this world that God created and put you in—the only meaning in the universe is going to be found in the word of God.
The author Jordan Peterson did a series of very popular lectures on the Bible—from a secular, psychological, scientific perspective—and he said this, “The Bible is not true like a set of scientific facts; it is true in a way that transcends factual truth. It’s the precondition for the manifestation of truth—it’s the foundational story upon which all other truths depend." He said this after studying the Bible from the perspective of a clinical psychologist but it changed him. He began to actually believe—not only in the Bible as a meta foundational abstraction for the precondition of truth—but he started to believe in Jesus, the resurrection, and the mysteries of God. It’s remarkable to watch his faith journey from afar through his lectures and books.
Reading God’s word changes a person. It changed me.
When I first started reading it, I saw Jesus as the ultimate superhero. I wanted to be like Him. Especially the way He stopped people in their tracks with His one liners and clever comebacks. I wanted to be like that. And I tried. Got pretty good at it, too.
Then, some years later, I started noticing how often the Bible speaks of being kind. Gentle. Patient. Listening more than speaking. Showing compassion. Maybe not walking around like a jerk looking for opportunities to Jesus Juke everyone.
I didn’t see those passages about how to treat people in my first 30 years reading the Bible. Sometimes I think God added them in the late 90s just to mess with me. Ha. I try to keep this in mind when someone seems to be ignoring some part of the Bible that’s pretty obvious to me. Maybe God hasn’t opened their eyes to that part yet. Maybe it’s none of my business and I should concentrate on the parts He has revealed to me: like showing grace, being kind, and being patient with people.
Sounds like a pretty good addition to my New Year’s Resolutions for this year. Probably a good resolution for all of us. God changes people in His own time, our job is just to point them to Jesus and show them grace. Let’s try to do more of that, shall we?
I have a resolution I really want you to join me in making this year.
This will not come as a shock but I want us to read the Bible all the way through together. If there’s one thing that could truly change your life it’s this: read the Bible every day. Not just as something to check off your list, but because it’s where we hear God’s voice. It’s where we encounter Jesus.
We did this a couple years ago as a church, and a lot of us did it—it’s time to do it again. This time I want us to use a specific reading plan and do it together. It’s called “One Story That Leads to Jesus.” It was put together by The Bible Project and can be found for free on the YouVersion Bible app.
YouVersion Bible app is also free, you can easily install it on your phone. You can use any translation you want—King James, NIV, NLT, ESV, MLB, NFL, CYA—I’m going to use the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible, this year, just because I haven’t read that one before. I like to use different translations to help me think about what it’s saying fresh, come at it from different perspectives. Sometimes you have to make the familiar strange if you want to really think about it. I can help you choose a translation if you want, just email me. frank@frankhart.com
Some people don’t like reading on their phone—I get it. You can use the app to keep track of the readings and follow along in your physical Bible if you prefer. The thing I like about the app is the flexibility. Many of the translations have an audiobook version available for free right there in the app—I like to listen while I’m working out or walking. It still counts. Get two resolutions done at the same time! Plus, it helps me focus on what’s being said. Also a great option if you have a commute. Learn about being kind and patient while distracting you from road rage—win, win.
Oh, and the best part of the “One Story That Leads to Jesus” plan is it includes 150 animated videos that help explain what’s happening in the readings and how it all points to Jesus. They are done very well and will bring the Bible to life like you’ve never experienced before.
If you miss a day, just pick it up the next day.
Don’t think of it as a chore—something to check off your list. This is about spending time with God. Approach it every day with a prayer, “Lord, speak to me today. I want to hear from You. Show me what Jesus wants for me.”
The Bible always points us to two things: It shows us God’s wisdom, His will for our life, His commands—also called the Law—what He wants us to do. Which will always remind us that we’re not very good at keeping it and we need a Savior. Thankfully, the other thing the Bible always does is point us to what God’s done to save us. Jesus is the One who was promised throughout Scripture to come rescue us—He’s the One who saved us. He’s the Word of God made flesh, the One who fulfills every longing and makes up for every failure in our lives.
So, every time you read the Bible, the Law will show you how to live, how to love people, and remind you of all the ways you’ve blown it, but the Gospel will let you off the hook and tell you what Christ has done to save you. This is the daily rhythm of repentance and belief. Confession and forgiveness. You need to hear both of these things every day or you will wander aimlessly in the dark.
God’s word is a very helpful flashlight.
Psalm 119:105 says,
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
It shows us our next step, and lights up the path ahead of us—where we’re going.
As the Gospel of John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
So, let’s read the Bible all the way through together this year. I know we’re all busy but we make time for what’s important to us. Life is full of distractions, but God’s Word is what anchors us in truth and gives us direction and meaning. Let this be a year we hear God’s voice and follow where He leads. Imagine what God might do through our church if we were all hearing from Him daily.
You know, the Bible isn’t just an instruction manual for life—it is that but it’s also the story of how Jesus gave His life for you—how He conquered sin and death to make you right with God, part of His own family—to make it possible for you to be right with God. When you read the Bible, you’re not just gaining knowledge; you’re encountering the One who saves you.
As you go through the Bible reading plan this year, I want you to notice something. In story after story, we find a God who wants to be with His people. In Genesis He walked with them in the Garden, through the prophets and stories He visited them over and over to direct them and give them hope. In the New Testament Jesus shows up as Emmanuel, God with us, who lived with us, died for us, and rose from the dead—then in the last book, Revelation, when He returns at the end of time, Jesus sits on the throne in the midst of His people and announces,
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'" Revelation 21:3
We get a little taste of that future reality when we slow down and take time to encounter God in His word. Even if you’ve never really read the Bible before, this is a great way to start. God meets us where we are.
Here’s the plan again: One Story That Leads to Jesus. You can find it on the YouVersion Bible app, or email me at frank@frankhart.com and I’ll send you a link.
We make resolutions because we want to be better, but only Jesus can truly make us new. Let’s start this year by committing to Him—resolving to be in His Word and asking God to renew our mind. Commit your year to the Lord, and your plans will be established. He is making everything new. AMEN