New Year, New Me?

It is a new year!

With a new year comes new year’s resolutions. We all, including myself, have many things in our lives that we want to improve on.

Whether it is getting in shape, growing your business, or any other good habit, we all desire something fresh and new in our lives.

This desire for something new in our lives is not isolated to this year though.

Every year we look back unsatisfied with how certain things went, and we desire a fresh start in the next year.

Oftentimes, we achieve our goals, but we still want something more. Why is it that we are constantly desiring something we don’t have? Is it possible in this new year, to truly be fulfilled? Is it possible for us to look back at 2025 and not have the desire for something more?

The answer to these questions depends on what exactly we are pursuing this year. 

the reason we always long for more is that we were made for more than anything this world can satisfy. 

At the beginning of Genesis, we see the creation story. We see throughout the text that everything God had made was very good.

God created humans in a perfect world of love and harmony called the Garden of Eden.

In fact, Eden means ‘pleasure.’ So, God created us and gave us pleasures forevermore in the Garden where we could have face-to-face communion with Him and partake of the beauties of holiness. 

This is clearly not the state of our world today.

We live in a world filled with pain, sorrow, evil, and disappointment.

every human, regardless of their relationship with God, is longing for something this world can never satisfy.

Everyone was created for a world that has never tasted of sin.

This deep longing, whether we realize we have it or not, is what creates this craving for something more in each one of us.

It is so easy for us to try to chase after this desire for more by trying to fix our circumstances here on earth by our own discipline and self-will. 

When we run after these empty wells, we are always left thirsting for more.

Thankfully, Jesus offers us hope that will never leave us thirsting. 

In His encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus said:

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

When we pursue earthly treasures and achievements, we will surely thirst again.

But when we seek eternal treasures found in Jesus, we will never thirst again.

 Jesus is the one who promises to give us this new, fresh start that we all desire. 

So does this mean that our only hope for an improved life is in the future hope of eternal life?

Not at all! Jesus is the only one who can transform both our present and our future. 

Matthew 6:33 says:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

When we seek Jesus first, all of our needs will be provided for.

• Do you want to get healthier in the new year? Seek Jesus. He will give you the strength to live a healthier lifestyle every day.

• Do you want to grow your business and be more financially stable? Seek Jesus. He will bless you with the wisdom necessary to grow according to His will so that you can be blessed and contribute to His kingdom.

• Are you wanting to break a bad habit or addiction? Seek Jesus. He is the only one who can break the chains of addiction in your life.

  
  

No matter what you desire for this new year, seek Jesus!

In this world, we will always be longing for more because we all are longing for the kingdom of God.

It is only through Christ that we can find true fulfillment, hope, and peace in a world that we were not designed to live in.

Thankfully, God promises to make all things new once again.

Revelation 21:1-4 says:

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

God will once again make all things new.

All the former things of this world will pass away.

He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more pain and no more suffering.

We will once again have face-to-face communion with our creator, and we will never thirst again.

In this new year, no matter where you are in your walk with God, seek Jesus!

Investing in eternity and seeking Him first every day will not only give us a blessed hope of a beautiful future in eternity, but it will also give us peace, fulfillment, strength, wisdom, and discipline in the world we live in now.

If we seek Him first in all we do, 2025 will surely be a year filled with self-improvement and beauty that can last into eternity.

Happy New Year!