Luke 1

“New year. New me.” Have you made that promise yet? Whether it is an internal narrative or an external commitment that seems to be the prevailing motto of January regardless of what year the calendar says. The phrase itself implies that there is something about ourselves that we long to be different. We look in the mirror and see a body that doesn’t meet certain standards. Maybe you have identified some self-defeating thought patterns that you are determined to change. You might be finally ready to confess and take back control from those addictions that you promised would never define you.

As we turn the page to a new year, the hope is that we will be able to leave the old behind, take up new habits or disciplines, and finally be the person we want to see in the mirror. Honestly, that kind of thinking is not totally foreign to the Gospel of Christ. Paul counseled the believers in Corinth with these words: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Christ makes us new! His promise of transformation doesn't depend on the time or season of the year. While this promise might sound like the church version of our resolution there is a vital distinction that needs to be made here. Jesus is not looking at your reflection in the mirror and comparing it to Instagram standards of beauty or success. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see the person that isn’t good enough that you see in the mirror. He sees a child that is incomplete, often wondering, and He desires for us to experience fullness in Him.

So, as we step into the new year together talking about what it looks like to live out our faith in a hostile culture, I hope you will commit with us this month to read through the Gospel of Luke and the life of Jesus. My hope is that we will do more than set resolutions with commitments that fade out by February. My prayer is that we will pick up practices and develop disciplines modeled in the life and teaching of Jesus that lead us to a sense of wholeness in Him.

The words of the angel Gabriel to Zachariah in Luke 1:20 stand out to me here. “And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

Remember this promise: God’s work will be completed in His time. As you commit to following Him this year and develop new habits like scripture reading, prayer, or fasting, you aren’t going to perfect it overnight. There will be days when you aren’t filling that prayer time. There will be days when you want to give up and go back to what was. There will be days when you honestly forget to stop and spend time with God in His word. Stay committed to the practice of following Him, and let Him work in you in His time.

• Have you ever been in a season of waiting for God to answer? What happened?

• What are you praying for God to do in and/or through you this year?

Author: Kyle Warren