New Year Resolutions
The holidays are nearing an end, we have gone through our season of thankfulness as well as a season of remembrance of when the Savior Jesus Christ was born. It is around now that many people look to the future. They view the coming new year with hope and reflect on things that they wish to change. Many resolutions are made to eat healthier, exercise more, read more, relax more, ect. And yet, how many of us reflect on our walk with Jesus Christ and strive to build a deeper faith and a deeper understanding on what we believe.
As created beings, we all long for a deeper connection to God and a deeper understanding of His Word, many try to look inward to build this connection. However, this is not possible. We cannot build a deeper connection on our own and often times we are unaware of hinderances that could be preventing God from building a stronger faith in us. In this time, it would be important to take a look at our current walk with Jesus Christ and see if there are any hinderances that are stopping us from having a deeper understanding of our faith.
One of the first hinderances is sin. Sin in itself separates all man from God. “But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Isaiah 59:2. God is one hundred percent holy and in Him there is no darkness, “5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. Sin is one hundred percent darkness, because God cannot abide with the darkness of sin, if there is sin in your life then your path to growing in the faith is being hindered. For the unbeliever this means accepting that the sin in our life is a debt that cannot be paid on our own, it is only through the blood of Christ and accepting His sacrifice on the cross that we can be cleansed. For the believer that has already acknowledged this fact but still feel disconnected from God, look closely at your life and see if there is any sin in your life that you have not confessed. We cannot come before God if we are still holding onto sinful desires. If there is anything in your life that is going against the Word of God, this is sin and needs to be confessed then removed if you desire a deeper connection to God.
The second hindrance to a deeper connection to God is the condition of the human heart. As mentioned before, mankind often feels as if we need to perform some act to make God notice us or to earn His salvation. This is far from the case as proved over and over in the Bible, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Isaiah 64:6. Just like everyone longs for a connection to God, we all deep down recognize that we have rebelled against God. Some choose to accept this fact and ask God for His forgiveness, while others deny it and continue to live in a way that only leaves them yearning for something more. They fail to realized that what they are looking for is for Christ to save them. God does not want our actions, He wants our obedience to Him. “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:16-17
When we are struggling with a deeper connection to God we often are set in one of these two issues. In doing so we lose the concept of God’s Majesty. If we wish to form a deeper connection to God, we need to acknowledge that actions on our own will not accomplish this. We need God first in our lives to have any form of a relationship with Him, and we need to be careful that we are not swayed by a form of religiosity that focuses on human actions without coming before God and confessing our sins. We cannot forget that we are made in the image of God and need to behave as such.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex