Happy New Year!
For many 2017 was quite rough, from a controversial election, to terror attacks and mass shootings, to natural disasters, to Giancarlo Stanton signing with the Yankees. But now, there is a hope in the new year. In all seriousness, for those who had a rough twenty seventeen, I pray that the rise of this mornings sun brought a dawn of new hope.
One of the best things about have a cyclical calendar is that we return regularly to these opportunities for fresh starts. Every Monday, every first of the month, and every January first are opportunities to track growth, seek to live healthier lives, and to think strive to be some how a better you. Now in one sense to plant a flag on a day and declare to give up cigarettes or soda or to be a more spiritual person is totally arbitrary, but in another there is a beauty to and hope in the newness of a week, a month, and especially in the new year.
When I think about our calendar returning to January first, I cannot help but have the a contrasting thought of the long suffering prisoner who does not celebrate the calendared holy days, and may not even be aware of the month or even the seasons passing. Instead he tracks time by a simple, ever increasing, never ending tally of time passing. There is something oppressive about endlessness in that context.
But with the return to the beginning of the cycle comes new hope, a fresh start, a chance to begin again. My favorite thing about the new year though is that for most of us the general understanding is not that we can use 2018 to more effectively change the world—as if we failed to change the world in 2017 but are going to do better this time around—rather we are going to seek to make changes to ourselves. The very existence of new years resolutions is a sort of pledge to pursue growth or (for Christians) sanctification. It challenges the notion common to our culture’s catechism that we are to be true to ourselves. Seeking instead to be true to Christ. Sometimes in small decisions, sometimes in large changes we strive to deepen our relationship with Christ through his indwelling Spirit.
Often new years resolutions are pretty superficial, but I have always appreciated their sort of common grace quality that requires humility to reflectively pursue. So for those of you a bit late on the resolution front, I thought I would lay out a few ideas and resources.
- Build a deeper theology the classic way with The New City Catechism by Tim Keller.Building on the classic, theologically rich, and simply communicated catechisms like Westminster and Heidelberg, Keller has written an updated catechism an accompanying devotional for personal/individual or small group/family training. Keeping the traditional question and answer style, the New City Catechism is an excellent tool for provoking discussion and guiding theological instruction. This is a great way to engage with deeper questions and be guided in devotional reading and studying.
Be the master of my technology with the Moment App and The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch.Technology is an amazing tool, but it can also be isolating and distracting, giving only the illusion of community in place of the real thing and providing millions of time-killers when we ought to be productive. Andy Crouch’s book the Tech-Wise Family provides helpful thoughts and reflections on mastering our technology so that it does not master us. One helpful tip for those so inclined, is to download the Moment app which tracks your phone’s screen time and classifies it both in terms of minutes and hours, wake ups, and percentage of your life you have spent engrossed in your phone. Warning: app may cause some self-loathing when you see the amount of your life you spend on your phone.- Tackle goals and projects more effectively with the SELF Journal.If you have trouble accomplishing large tasks and projects the SELF Journal might be the little extra help you need to breakdown a project and make day-to-day progress on them. I find them extremely helpful in breaking down large projects into small manageable chunks. That being said, I think many who might be interested in buying them are the sort of people who already break projects down and work on them daily. In that case, the SELF Journal provides an aesthetically pleasing way to do what you are a natural at, but not much more.
Track creative thoughts with good fiction and a swip-book.
Last year a friend recommended Steal Like an Artist a coffee table book by Austin Kleon. In it Kleon makes the argument that all artists are functionally stealing from their influences. All art is in a sense derivative from those who came before. The thing that makes great artists great is they steal well, as such Kleon suggests starting a swip-file or a swip-book to with you to track ideas and get down things that strike your fancy. I have taken up using small (pocket size) blank paged notebooks, I can keep three of them in a felt notebook cover. I also use the Evernote app on my phone for its ability to take high quality pictures of book pages. For inspiration and influence few things beat great fiction.
- Be more reflective on scripture with the ESV Journalling Bible.
Finally, I think one of the primary reasons that many Christians find it difficult to read the Bible is they are not sure how to apply it or what to do after they read a bit of it. The ESV Journalling Bible is a great solution to that as it provides a space to make some short reflections or write out a prayer on the page. One of the best ways to engage the Bible deeper is to pray through it, reflect on it, or simple jot down some questions that you thought of while reading.
These are just a few ideas that you may want to consider if you are looking for a resolution or two. Again, I know many had tough 2017s and many had joyous ones. Key for Christians is not how sweet or sour the year was, but how we might turn both to praise and worship of Christ our king who reigns regardless of election results, disasters or win-falls.
Soli Deo Gloria,
TDH
Sanctification – Sanctification is one of several possible English translations of hagios (Greek) and their cognates. The New Testament view of sanctification: it has to do with God’s choice (1 Peter 1:2; 2:9), the work of the Spirit in applying the benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection (1 Peter 1:2–3), and lives lived in obedience to God’s call to holiness (1 Peter 1:14–15; 2:5) and love (1 Peter 1:22; 4:8). Sanctification, in sum, is essentially a relational reality, completed in Christ’s death on the cross, experienced through the indwelling Holy Spirit and brought to its final goal when we see God (Hebrews 12:14; 1 John 3:2–3).
K. E. Brower, “Sanctification, Sanctify,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1057.
Catechism – A popular manual of Christian doctrine. Originally the term was applied to the oral instruction on the principal Christian truths given to children and adults before Baptism. From this usage the name passed to the book containing such instructions.
F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 301.
Indwelling Spirit – The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the action by which God takes up permanent residence in the body of a believer in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come and go from the saints, empowering them for service but not necessarily remaining with them (see Judges 15:14; 1 Chronicles 12:18; Psalm 51:11; Ezekiel 11:5). Jesus revealed to His disciples the new role the Spirit of Truth would play in their lives: “He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). The apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). These verses are telling us that the believer in Jesus Christ has the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, living in him.
https://www.gotquestions.org/indwelling-of-the-Holy-Spirit.html
Soli Deo Gloria – Latin phrase meaning “Glory to God Alone”. Popularized as one of the five solas of the reformation with sola gratia, sola fide, sola Christi, sola scriptura. Which might be understood as a summery of the reformed understanding of salvation: we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as understood in by the authority of scripture alone. For more see “Soli Deo Gloria by John Piper”.
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