As you reflect back over the past 12 months, did your relationship with Christ grow closer, or does it seem like you lost ground spiritually as worries, concerns, or various projects took center stage in your heart and life?
This is a perfect time to slow down and begin to prepare yourself for 2024. Evangelist Billy Graham said, “When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice.” Do you feel good about most of your choices in 2023? Which decisions do you plan to handle differently in the new year?
There is no sense in spending too much time dwelling on 2023. After all, what’s done is done. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
One of the many wonderful things about the Christian life is that you can begin anew every morning. The Lord is not focused on your past; He is focused on today and your future. What about you? Are you consumed with mistakes and sins in your past, or are you choosing to forget what is behind you while straining toward what is ahead?
The Scottish evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers wrote, “Leave the broken, irreversible past in God’s hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.” The more confidence you place in Christ, the more peacefulness and confidence you will experience in your daily life. Chambers also wrote, “The dearest friend on Earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ.”
Has your friendship with Jesus been consistently progressing? Do you find yourself constantly talking to the Lord during your daily activities? Those who do so experience a calmness in their soul. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Did you come to Jesus often in 2023 to receive strength, encouragement, and a quiet heart?
Take a step back for a moment and look at the big picture. Christ is working mightily in lives today all around the world. Christian apologist Josh McDowell said, “Wherever Jesus has been proclaimed, we see lives change for good, nations change for the better, thieves become honest, alcoholics become sober, hateful individuals become channels of love, unjust persons embrace justice.”
Perhaps you are so embroiled in your personal problems or demanding projects that you are neglecting the most important thing. Just as Martha “was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” (Luke 10:40) for the Lord’s visit to her home, perhaps you too are failing to prioritize your personal relationship with Christ within the home of your heart. While Martha was feeling stressed and overwhelmed, Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said” (Luke 10:39). Jesus offered this piece of wisdom: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
It is so easy for us as Christians to neglect the one thing that is needed. Unless we intentionally make that one thing the priority in our daily life, other things tend to dominate our thoughts and our schedule. Pastor Ray Ortlund said, “Busyness can be a drug. It makes us feel important and needed. Fruitfulness is another matter. It is a miracle of God’s grace through His Word, imparted to a heart that stays quiet and low before Him, set upon doing His will only.”
How quiet was your heart in 2023? Some days were more peaceful than others, right? Since our mind is often weak, our concentration on the Lord can easily lose focus. Nevertheless, God has given us “divine power to demolish strongholds” so that we can “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
A spiritual stronghold develops whenever we allow the devil to gain some ground in our thought lives. Satan tempts us to compromise our biblical convictions. And the devil tries to get us to ignore what the Lord has done for us in the past, and the things our loving God is willing to do for us today and in the future. We need to remember God’s faithfulness and the Lord’s promises when our faith comes under attack.
Growing closer to Christ involves growing in faith as well as growth in obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). The more we love Christ, the more we trust Him and obey Him. The hymn “Trust and Obey” was written by John Sammis in 1887. It includes the lyrics: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Thankfully, you and I can learn a lot from 2023 and grow closer to Christ in 2024. Our future with Jesus is extremely bright! After all, “In His great mercy God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in Heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
No earthly inheritance or blessing can begin to compare with what God will give His children in Heaven. You see, the fact that you are saved, redeemed, born again, forgiven, and justified through faith in Christ is a trillion times more significant than any struggles or setbacks you experienced in 2023.
As we look forward to following Jesus and walking closely with our Savior in 2024, allow these words from Scripture to strengthen your heart and mind: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
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