New Year Does Not = New Me

The New Year Lie

A new year has come, fads....I mean resolutions have been made, and change is in the air. Sure, the new year is a significant and almost all to popular time to create the new you, but I would ask why you hadn't already started on creating the new you when you first saw the problem? Is it because you wanted to set some significant date at which you turned your life around? Maybe that is the case, but I see this as a being a follower and not a leader. You should already be making choices for the good as a leader, not relying on others to tell you what to do. 

Change should come when you see the need for it

When I stepped on the scale last year and saw the number read 300, I was no longer in denial about what needed to happen. My health is important to me and it was in the moment that I knew change was no longer an afterthought, but rather my first thought. I began to become introspective about my choices and what each and every one of them did to me. This is a part of being a leader, thinking about the consequences of your actions not only for yourself, but those around you as well. 

Instead of new year, think new you

Next time you notice an action in your life that always ends badly for you, take a second and reflect on how you might avoid this action. Proverbs 12:1 says, "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid." (NIV) Which one will you be, the one who loves discipline or the one who hates correction? Do not believe yourself to be above someone else, but rather heed their advice and pray about it. If the advice is sound and God pleasing, then you should be able to implement it without much quarreling, but if the advice is from a fool, pray about it and then move on. There is no reason for any of you to be afraid of change because we must remember that when Christ entered our hearts, the biggest change of our lives happened. Every other change should be looked upon without fear. Do not wait for a new year to start being a new you, start being who God called you to be today and live life to the full.

Application

Four years ago I made a new years resolution to never go through a drive thru to get food. Since then I can count on my hands how many times this has happened. Making the choice was not easy, but it had a profound effect on my life. No longer was I thinking about how quickly I could grab food and go, but rather I was thinking about how there was a person behind a counter I would have to interact with and show God's love to. My friends asked questions like, "Why are you doing this?" or "What is the point if you still eat fast food?". Well the idea behind it is that if I am so rushed to get food that I cannot slow down and have a conversation with someone and be a human to them for that brief moment of time, then I feel as though I am failing to be a light to this world. Yes, I still eat fast food, but it is not the food that is the important part of all of this, it is the people. The fast food industry is one of the most stressful and low paying jobs in the market. If I for a brief moment in time can be a light to one of these workers, then giving up going through the drive through is worth waiting the extra few minutes of waiting in line. 

As a brief side note, I would like to wish all of you that read this blog a happy new year. I hope to create content on a more consistent basis this year so that you as the reader have something fun and interesting to read throughout your week. God bless and read on!

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