Whether God is currently your first love or you want to make that the case, here's how you can draw near to God this New Year.
Perspective truly matters in the life of a believer. This year can be like the last, and the next year can be like this one. Or, we can decide that the new year is going to be different. One replete with new adventures, new relationships, and a deeper connection to God. There is one potential issue, however.
Are you the sort to conjure up New Year’s resolutions that are lofty and ideal?
Many people enter the New Year with goals for their weight, eating differently, traveling more, and spending less. Yet, by the end of January, many of these goals fall by the wayside. Just a month later, hardly any are still intact. Wanting to develop ourselves is admirable, but how we go about doing this should be realistic. Perspective - how we view situations, others, and ourselves - truly matters.
As we inch ever closer to 2024, we should take stock of all the things we hope to improve upon or eliminate altogether. We should have in mind the relationships we want to grow, find, or leave behind. But most importantly, we should be thinking about what the new year will mean for us and our first love.
What is your first love? Ideally, the answer to that question should be God.
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
There’s no doubt that God wants us to make the most of our lives, but making the most means living with Him as the focus. Whether God is currently your first love or you want to make that the case, here's how you can draw near to God this new year.
1. Set Aside Time to Pray
“Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2)
When we want to connect with someone, we find some way to talk to them, either verbally, through body language, or through social media. When we want to talk to God, we communicate through prayer. However, if you’re like most people, finding the time, and sometimes the desire to pray, can be challenging.
The solution is two-fold. First, recognize the need to pray. We can’t hope to develop any intimacy and understanding of God without talking to Him. Similarly, if we truly believe God to be omnipresent, then He is not available only when life is good. He loves us and sticks with us through thick and thin.
Secondly, you should set a designated time to pray. That could be at night when you lie down to sleep or in the morning when you first wake. You could choose to do both. The when is not as important as simply doing. Instead, the key is to do something small and realistic, and once that has become a habit, build from there.
2. Start a Prayer Journal
Another way to cultivate faith is through a prayer journal. Our sinful nature leads us to, at times, doubt God and forget His goodness. With a prayer journal, we write down the things we are praying about, along with God’s response when the answer comes. With a written record, we have a visual we can return to and recall what God did. If our tendency is to forget, the natural remedy is to give ourselves reminders.
3. Make a Gratitude List
“Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
You can make this list either physical or mental, but take the time to intentionally pause and reflect on everything that has happened in 2023. Scripture doesn’t tell us to be grateful for everything that happens, but does tell us to be grateful in everything that happens. When we take the time to reflect, we gain a greater perspective of how God is working in our lives and the lives of others. We remember, or learn, just how much He loves each and every one of us. As a result, we trust Him more. And, of course, with trust comes closeness.
4. Make Reading a Priority
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Much like prayer, reading the Bible can feel boring, tedious, and pointless. However, that perception is far from reality. The better way to treat reading God’s Word is to recognize its importance. Scripture helps us to judge right from wrong, and understand in some measure, the mind of God. When we want to get close to people, we take the time to get to know them.
Without taking the time to understand God, there’s no way to grow close.
5. Find Community
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)
For as many people who would acknowledge the issue of loneliness in modern society, not as many people are doing their part to find community. Not just the friendly faces you say hi or bye to, but those who offer you something meaningful. You don’t just sit down for coffee, eat meals together at home, and speak in detail about your hardships. Too many people are lonely, and at the same time, too into themselves. Strive to be the sort of person who seeks to serve, not just be served, the type who listens more than speaks.
When we find ourselves in a community with other believers who reciprocate the godly love we display, we will naturally find ourselves encouraged in our faith.
6. Make a Connections List
Write a list of people you want to connect with in a given month. Resist the urge to do anything lofty, like committing to hanging out with ten different people, unless you actually have that kind of time. Instead, start with 3 or 4. Determine what you want to do with those people and then initiate. Give them a call and see what they say. Connecting could consist of going out, a phone call, a visit, or something else. Perhaps you just want to find some way to serve them. The specifics don’t matter so much as the result.
7. Connect with Church
If you are at a church that doesn’t seem to rev your soul like it once did in the past, perhaps the time has come to find a new church home. Or, if you are at a church you enjoy, consider finding more ways to better connect with it. That could mean connecting with other congregants, or that could mean volunteering in some capacity.
8. Fight Past Sin
“Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” (John 8:11)
If you want to grow closer to God and be a better version of yourself, then you can’t enter the New Year being who you were before. There needs to be a mindset shift, a change in behavior. Many of us have habits or thoughts that we know aren’t exactly holy, but instead of calling bad, bad or evil, evil, we justify ourselves by claiming what we do is in the gray. This could mean ghosting people, not being reliable, telling white lies, and other things. We have to fight past sin in order to cultivate future virtue. Sin is the very thing that keeps us feeling separated from God.
9. Set Goals
Life can happen to us, or we can take charge of our lives. Indeed, maturing takes time and effort, but with a plan for the future, we can do just that. Set goals for your education, your relationships, and your hobbies. When we make plans for ourselves, we get to invite God into that experience. We also get to see how He directs and guides us in a fashion that He sees fit. If we chose to do nothing with our lives, we wouldn’t cultivate a relationship with Him or the people in our community. We don’t make anything of the blessing of life He has granted.
Let’s choose to make goals, ones that are specific, measurable, and have deadlines.
10. Be Accountable
“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17)
No matter what you say you’re going to do, if we could go about life relying on just ourselves, we wouldn’t need help. We wouldn’t need people. We wouldn’t need God. Yet, we do. Find someone to keep you accountable as you strive to grow. We all come up short sometimes, but sharing your shortcomings can help you make improvements and get back on track.
11. Discover Your Purpose
“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
We can discover our vocation through two things – praying and doing. Prayer helps us get to know God and His plans for our lives. Doing simply means putting our skills and gifts to use as we wait to hear and discern what the Lord says to us. If you’re living life unsure of your purpose, know that your entire life won’t be like this. Next year can be different. God says that we will find Him. If you feel like you’ve been trying, note that He doesn’t say when, but that we will.
Conclusion
Perspective is how we choose to see things. Other people, ourselves, and God. Next year could mean new possibilities for us. A new job, new relationships, so many things that are fresh and better. As we grow closer to Him, we will find a greater sense of hope in the Lord. We’ll see that though life isn’t always perfect, there is always so much to appreciate. We’ll see Him more in circumstances, in people, in His Word. And, you will likely discover that all the ways in which you can grow closer to God next year, don’t have to start then. You can start growing closer to Him right now.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Nadine Rupprecht
Get in touch at aarondanthony.com and check out his short story “Serenity.”
