Before you grab your calendar and begin to look, I am aware that it is a few days after Groundhog’s Day and a month or so into the New Year.  However, I want to talk with you about my New Year’s Resolutions.

For most people, the month of December is a joyous month filled with good times and great memories.  That is usually the case for me as well.  However, this past year, amidst the joyous celebrations of the Christmas Season, it seems as if December brought a lot of uncertainty and disappointment to my life.  Not just one area of life but it seemed as if there were challenges on every front; job, finances, relationships, ministries; challenges abounded everywhere.  As New Year’s Day was approaching, I had made plans that I was really looking forward to.  The day before, those plans were cancelled.  In fact, I received the text cancelling those plans moments after the previous article was posted in this space.  As I read the text message informing of this, I literally tossed my phone on the floor and said the words, “God, I give up.”

And I did!  For the next few hours, I went about my plans for New Year’s Eve trying not to show my disappointment to my companions for the evening.  I got through the evening and went home and dropped into bed.  Defeated, discouraged, done with life!  While I was by no means suicidal, I had decided that I was going to live my life in my own little world and I was done letting anyone else in it.

Happy New Year!  Words that, in a few hours, will be said many times in many places.  I expect that I will say those words a few times myself tonight to my friends that I will be celebrating with as the clock strikes midnight and officially ushers in the year of 2017.

This past year has seen many different situations for me.  I have been through some difficult circumstances and I have had some moments of excitement and victory!  I have learned in all those circumstances. The most important thing that I have learned this year is that my worth is not defined by what anyone on this earth thinks of me.  I am sure that all of us know people who like us and those who do not like us.  I am sure there are people out there who can tell stories about us that might embarrass us or make us feel bad.  I am sure we all have friends that will stand up for us in any circumstance.  However, ultimately, the only thing that really matters is our relationship with God.

I am glad to say that I am heading into 2017 as close to God as I have ever been.  I spent the better part of the last half of 2016 reexamining my life, rededicating my life to Jesus Christ and searching the Scriptures for His Will for my life.  I had slipped away from Him.  I admit it.  However, God is a forgiving God and I am pleased to say that I am forgiven and back now and I am excited to see what future God has planned for me in 2017.

Do you love the Bible?  If you are a Christian, I am sure that your quick answer would be, “of course, I do.”  But, do you really love it?  Do you look forward to the time you get to spend studying God’s Word?  Do you miss it if you do not read the pages for even one day?  Do you consult it for all of your questions about life?  Do you seek it, read it and meditate upon it at every opportunity you have?  Do you truly love it?

I was saved when I was seven years old.  At the time, I understood that the Bible was the Word of God and that I should read it and I should obey it.  I understood that everything in there was true and that the answers to my questions were in there as well.  But honestly, I don’t know that I loved it.

I had many pastors and other Christian leaders over the years that challenged me to get into the Word of God.  They quoted verses like Second Timothy 3:16-17; “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Or other verses like Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Or this one, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105) or James 1:22; “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” All of those verses I committed to my memory at a young age and I understood them and tried to live by them.

”For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

That is a very familiar verse found in the Bible in Luke, chapter 2, verse 11.  That proclamation given to the shepherds in the field on that first Christmas Day was a proclamation that changed the world forever.  A Savior is born.  A baby was born that day in Bethlehem but there was something very special about this baby.

I have found over the years that many non-believers in this world either do not realize or do not believe that they need to be saved from anything.  The language in that verse would indicate the if a Savior was born, that we needed to be saved from something!  Many people believe that they can earn their own way to heaven.  They rationalize that they are better than this person or better than that person.  I have no doubt that many reading this article are a better person than I am.