Seasons
New Year
For when you feel: new year, january 1, resolutions, fresh start
Brothers, 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
The MinuteSermon
A new calendar hangs on the wall with nothing written in it yet, and last year is still loud in your head. Paul wrote his new-year verse from a prison cell, of all places, and it moves in two directions at once. "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." Forgetting does not mean amnesia, since Paul remembered his past well enough to write about it. It means refusing to let last year drive, neither its failures, which are forgiven, nor its successes, which are yesterday's manna. Then comes the reach, not toward a thinner or richer you, but "toward the mark," knowing Christ more this December than last. Make your resolutions; habits are good servants. But set them inside the one resolution that outranks them all, and press on.
By the MinuteSermon editors
A prayer for this moment
Lord of new beginnings, I leave last year in Your hands: the failures forgiven, the wins on the altar. This year, the prize is knowing You. Amen.
Songs for this moment
“New Wine” · Hillsong Worship
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” · Thomas Chisholm
mercies new every morning of the new year
One small step
Write one spiritual resolution above the practical ones, and tell someone who'll ask you about it in June.
Share this moment
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