New Year

A lot of people like the idea of fresh beginnings that come with a new year.  Last year may have been this, that or the other, but THIS year all of that is going to change.

And of course a lot of other people think it’s silly to place significance on any particular day or year.  After all, each one is pretty much the same, right?  So why think the arbitrary action of flipping a page on a calendar should mean anything to us?

Surprise, surprise, things to us hold the meaning that we give to them.  This is why some people love holidays, but others can’t stand them.  This is why some people and cultures celebrate birthdays, but others don’t.

If there’s a reasonable grief with starry-eyed New Year thinking, perhaps it’s found in an unhealthy fascination with either the unknowable future or the unchangeable past.  What can often fall to the periphery is our attention to the present.

And when I refer to our attention on the present, I’m not making some bloated utopian or existential statement.  I am rather referring to our commitment, to our goals, to our disciplines, and to our intentional prioritization.  These are wonderful, and indeed essential elements in our present, but can get “dicey” when they only reside in the future or past.

We remember the past, of course, and will often study it in order to avoid making the same mistakes again.  And we look to the future to plan for the life we desire.  But the “rubber meets the road” in the present.  And a lack of commitment to the present helps to explain why so many New Years resolutions last less than a month.  It’s easy and safe to look back, and it can be fun to look forward, but the perspiration and hard work of the moment is something altogether different.

And this brings us to one of my favorite verses, which is found in Joshua 24:15.  “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”  

I only just recently drew the connection from Joshua’s words to the Israelites and Jesus’ words to his would-be disciples in Luke 9:23.  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

Fortunately Jesus expounds on this idea further in Luke 14:25-35, so we know that He was specifically addressing many of the most significant idols we attempt to worship in our lives.  Sometimes it is various relationships or a sense of duty/obligation/responsibility that claims our undivided worship.  Other times it is ourselves – our safety, preservation, reputation, ease, comfort, accomplishments, looks, etc.  And other times it is our possessions.

Now of course none of these things are bad, and we shouldn’t feel bad for caring about these things.  In fact we can celebrate and enjoy these things – God created good things for us to enjoy.  So it’s not about the things themselves, but about the worship, the idolatry of these things that’s the problem.

And that’s why I love Joshua 24:15 – “choose THIS day”, because each day is THIS day, and each day we get to choose who or what we will serve.  This is encouraging because THIS day is a new beginning and a new opportunity to prioritize what is greatest and best.  THIS day offers new opportunities to reject idols in favor of serving God.  THIS day is an opportunity to pick up my cross and follow Him.

So by all means, celebrate the New Year if you like, or don’t.  But whether it’s January 1st, May 23rd or any other day, “Choose for yourselves THIS day whom you will serve.”