2024! Here we go!
When I was younger, my New Year’s Resolution list was pretty extensive. There were so many new habits I wanted to form and things I wanted to accomplish with the hopes of becoming a brand new person by the end of the new year.
Some of the top surveyed yearly resolutions include improving fitness, health, finances, weight loss, and mental health. Almost half of everyone surveyed said they planned to set three resolutions, yet the average resolution only lasted 3.7 months. Only 8% of us actually stick with our resolutions for the whole year. Ouch!
What are your plans for 2024? What goals and resolutions are jumping into? Is it something you’ve tried before and never fully followed through with, so you’re going at it for round two? I want to challenge you only to choose one thing. Not three or even two things. Choose one. Don’t just choose something to do; instead, work toward the type of person you want to become.
In a previous semester of our Guys’ Small Group, we went through a series of podcasts that challenged us to look at “who” we wanted to be instead of what we wanted to “do.” “Choose who before do.” Then, pick one thing each year that helps you grow toward that person. As a result, over the course of 5 years, instead of failing at 10-15 things, we can succeed at 5.
One way to work toward this one thing is to choose one word to focus on. Choose a word that best describes what you want to become or a trait that you would like to have. Then, seek to answer the question, “What would that type of person do in this situation?”
For me, in 2024, the word is “clarity.” I want to get super clear in my communication and expectations. I want to hear from God more clearly. I want to set a clearer direction in multiple areas of my life. Am I clear in what I’m saying? Am I clear in what what I’m asking?
My personality, at times, can tend to go with the flow and struggle with committing to something for fear of failure or missing out on something better. Taking time and creating space to get clarity might force constraints in some areas, but it will also open many more opportunities in others.
As followers of Jesus, whatever we strive for or to become should bring us closer to Him. It should run in tandem with the sanctification work that God is doing in our lives, forming us into the image of Christ.
Jesus encouraged Martha to consider the most important thing.
Luke 10
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Paul did a lot of great work, but he was clear in the one thing he was called to in Philippians 3.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
We actually don’t have to wait for a New Year's Resolution. We can make the commitment on any day. Every day can be “one day,” or it can be “day one.” We get to choose.
If you’re not sure what that one thing is for you, a great way to discover that is to take time for prayer and fasting so that you can hear God more clearly. As a church, we will participate in 21 days of prayer and fasting from January 7th-27th. CLICK HERE to find out what a fast is and how you can practice this ancient Christian discipline.
Leave us a comment and let us know what your word will be and what you want to become. Let’s encourage each other to greatness and move toward the person God is shaping us to be.