EDITOR'S NOTE: Since becoming the clergy leader at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn., in November 2017, I've written a monthly column for our church newsletter. This column originally published in the January 2018 FLC Newsletter.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about New Year’s resolutions as the turning of the year drew nearer.
As tradition would have it, as one year draws to a close, and another year dawns anew, we have a tendency to take stock of our lives and promise to improve ourselves or our situations. We vow to begin that exercise routine that has alluded us, to drop those unwanted pounds that have haunted us for far too long, to quit smoking, to quit spending so much time on Facebook, and on and on. The list of the character and personality traits on which we would like to “improve” is long, but interestingly I find that they all tend to focus on “us.”
We focus on items that we think are going to make us “better” people, whether that be healthier people, thinner people, more well-read people, friendlier people. … You name it.
Don’t misunderstand me, I understand the drive to change some things in our lives for the better. It hasn’t escaped any of you that I could lose a few pounds! And, after all, the Lord certainly wants us to take care of our earthly bodies as the temples that he created. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
But I wonder at times if that preoccupation with a “better” self comes at the expense of our relationship with others and thus with God himself. … What am I saying? Great question!
My point is that I think often that our preoccupation with the items on our personal checklist that we want to improve comes not from a true desire to take better care of ourselves, but rather come from our obsessive earthly desire to fit in, or to keep up with the Joneses, as we all try to do. If only we could be as trim as that mom that’s at our child’s basketball game; or if only we could drive that same fancy vehicle that our neighbor does; or only if I could drop my Facebook habit so that I could judge those who can’t. … Everyone one of these “improvements” comes from our earthly preoccupation with where we fit in here, and not where we will fit in in God’s Kingdom.
Think about it: Nearly every popular New Year’s resolution you can name has to do with improving oneself for … oneself, when God actually calls us to live out our lives in Christ’s example, which is selfless! … Notice that our resolutions rarely are about improving the lives of those around us, our neighbors who go hungry, or go homeless, or simply go lonely. Our resolutions aren’t about improving the situation here on earth as Christ tried to do. No, ironically, they are about the exact opposite of what God calls us to do!
So this New Year’s, I encourage you to think about those resolutions you make for yourself. Now, don’t get me wrong! I’m not letting myself off the hook here, as I’ve committed to Shelley and the kids to living a healthier lifestyle so that I can be the best husband, father and SAM that I can be. And you shouldn’t forego taking care of yourself in lieu of solely taking care of others either. … But maybe there’s some room in the middle to do both?
It’s alright to want to drop a few pounds so that your physical body doesn’t fail you later in life, but remember that it’s just as important to resolve to take care of that neighbor whose children have moved away and they could use a visit, or that family whom you might not know who’s now residing at the homeless shelter, or that local family that has been beset by tragic circumstances.
Who’s with me this year? Given the past year of acrimony and tension that we’ve all lived through, what might a little focus on our neighbor in our resolutions do to improve God’s creation here on earth this year? And after all, isn’t that we are all called to do?
God bless everyone in this new year! … And may the Lords bless you, and keep you and make his face shine upon you!
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