The One New Year’s Resolution You Should Make For 2023
How is the first week of your New Year’s resolutions going?
What changes do you hope to see in your life in 2023?
If it’s not already on your list, spending time with God should be at the top of every Christian’s list of resolutions. Of course, not many things in life are guaranteed, but in Psalm 1 the Bible promises that spending daily time with God will improve our lives.
Daily Time with God = Better Life
“Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.”
The first word of Psalm 1, ‘ashre, is traditionally translated as blessed, but our English translations don’t do this powerful word justice. The ones who are ‘ashre live in a state of total well-being, but their well-being is not measured by their bank balances, social media followers, or whatever metric you prefer.
This state of blessedness comes to those “whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditate on his law day and night” (Ps 1:2). When you delight in something, you anticipate it and embrace it. It is not a burden, hardship, or something you do out of obligation, but something you look forward to and welcome.
So, when you think about spending time with God, whether it’s reading your Bible or praying or some other spiritual practice, does it seem like an obligation, or is it something that excites you?
Psalm 1 tells us that a person becomes blessed by meditating on the Lord “day and night.” This is a poetic way of saying you don’t think about God just once or twice a day but continually, and you work to make this a habit in your life.
While this might seem impossible, it’s not as difficult as it sounds if you choose to eliminate the distractions in your life. At the risk of stepping on toes, I believe most of us would have more than enough time for our relationship with God if we put down our phones, turned off the TV, and consistently put God first. You don’t have to abandon your entire life. You just have to put God at the center of it.
A New Way of Life
Psalm 1 describes an entirely different way of life than most of us live nowadays, but it is attainable when we offer God every part of our lives as an offering. Paul describes it like this:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”
When you think about the change you hope to see in your life in 2023, don’t limit your horizons to the standard resolutions: exercising more, losing weight, or spending less money. God’s got something much better for you, with benefits that extend into eternity.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Praying that your 2023 will be filled with deep meaning and peace.
Karla