I'm A New Year Humbug 🤪

So it’s another new year, and once again I’m asking myself, so what?  Why is it such a big deal?  So the calendar flipped – why does that matter?  It’s an arbitrary point in our solar orbit, where we’ve decided (that is, Western civilization decided; other civilizations do it at another point in our orbit) to end our cycle of the months and restart it.  Why do people make a big deal out of it?  For the most part, it’s just another excuse to get drunk.

People think it is a chance to start over, a renewal, an end point to bad trends in their lives and the chance to make a clean break and a fresh start.  The bad spending habits, the failures in relationships, ongoing medical problems – it’s all going to reset now and life is going to get better!

Accordingly, people make resolutions.  Every year at this time, I wonder why the gym is suddenly so much busier.  Then it hits me.  So many people make resolutions to lose weight, to “get into shape,” to “fit into that pair of pants.”  I’m glad they’re trying, I guess, but I laugh a bit inside.  By the end of February, the gym will be back to its usual (smaller) crowd.  This whole New Year’s resolution thing is ridiculous. 

One of the problems with New Year’s resolutions is simply this issue.  If you knew you had a problem, why did you wait until the New Year to do something about it?  If you weren’t committed enough to change the problem when you noticed it, you probably aren’t committed enough to follow through in the New Year.  Procrastinators procrastinate (thank you, Captain Obvious).

If you made a New Year’s resolution, please forgive my cynicism.  I don’t want to discourage you.  Please let your anger at me fuel you’re desire to prove me wrong.  No one would be happier than I to be wrong about this issue.  I’ve already heard from a couple people who have made resolutions, and they are noble and good goals.  I want to help them make those resolutions happen.  It is a good thing to try to
move ahead. 

My larger gripe is just with this idea that the New Year means things are new.  No, they’re not.  They are not for a very simple reason.  You are still you.  The habits, mind-set, false values, wrong worldviews – they didn’t go away.  They will cause you to make the same mistakes all over again.  The calendar may have changed, but your nature didn’t.

Unless, of course, you have become a new man in Christ.  Old things have passed away; behold, all is made new.  II Corinthians 5:17.  For those who received Christ, we’ve received a reset.  We don’t have the same nature any longer.  We have flipped.  That’s our New Year’s Day.  Celebrate that! 

Of course, the old habits and mindset can take some time to change.  We are justified in Christ, not guilty before the Father.  But sanctification, that process of making our practice match our position as justified takes time.  It is a process, an ongoing one that takes a lifetime, and won’t be fully complete until we stand in Christ’s presence directly.  Our practice, that is, our daily life, doesn’t always reflect that we are a child of God, even though that’s our position.  But we’re growing, and changing, and year by year, we can look back and see things God has worked out, growing us, perfecting us, into an image of His Son.  Paul assures us, There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.  Phillipians 1:6, The Message

We want instant coffee, instant soup, instant burgers – we don’t even want to have get out of our cars to get it!  But maturing in Christ isn’t instantaneous.  Our birth in Christ was.  But maturing takes a while.  Don’t expect a flip of the calendar and presto!  I’m all perfect now.  How about we let God work on us – it’s Him who will accomplish it.  Paul tells us, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  Phillipians 2:12-13.  Note we should work out our salvation, like working out at the gym, but it is God who works in us to accomplish this spiritual fitness.  The idea isn’t that God is on our side so much as it is that we need to be on God’s side, and let Him do His work. 

So celebrate the New Year if you choose, but maybe we need to celebrate our New Life Day.  We celebrate our physical birth day; plan some festivities for your Godly Birth Day.  Don’t remember what calendar date it was exactly?  Well, neither do I; I don’t think I paid much attention to that at age seven.  But I think I’ll choose a day, and make it my New Life Day.  You can send a card in lieu of presents.  Probably won’t be any bowl games, but maybe I’ll put it in the summer and go watch the Tigers.  Happy New Life Day!

Written By: Tim Barsuhn