“ . . . be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
Do you have your New Year’s resolutions made? Are you all ready to jump into them with both feet? Me, neither. If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that I find New Year’s resolutions rather daunting. I feel as if I’m willingly taking on more pressure to perform and more potential guilt for failing. A friend recently said that she finds them rather exciting because she likes the idea that we can become a better person at any time. I like that! It’s not about our performance. It’s more about who we are. Although, as I think about it, that may be even more daunting. How do we make ourselves into better people? That anger, that habit, that secret, are all too deeply ingrained to just get rid of them with the snap of the fingers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried to get rid of those things by sheer willpower. Did it work for you? Cause it sure didn’t work for me!
If you look at this verse, it isn’t just talking about changing one habit. It says to put on a new self. If we don’t have much luck changing one habit with our own power, how do we put on a whole new self? Take a look at the wording of this verse. It doesn’t say we’re supposed to change our attitudes, or our mind. It says we are to “be made new.” It’s something that’s done to us. Or maybe we should say that it’s done for us. The Holy Spirit living within us changes us from the inside out. As we walk with God, we find ourselves becoming more and more like Him. That’s exciting! That’s a New Year’s resolution I can get behind!
So, we don’t have to do anything, right? We can just sit back and let it happen? God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t come into our hearts and take over. He only comes in when we invite Him in. And He only does work we allow Him to do. So, the first step is that we need to be willing for Him to change us. Secondly, there’s someone else who is also wanting us to change, but not for the better. We have an enemy who will attempt to change our thoughts and our attitudes to anything that displeases God. We need to be on our guard and when our thoughts start to stray south, pull them back to thoughts that please God. If we will do those things, we’ll find that this will be the year we grow increasingly closer to God and we grow in righteousness and holiness. That’s a reason to say, “Happy New Year!”