This is the start of a new year. So often New Year's sees us examining ourselves and planning for the future.
What kind of plans should we be making? In what direction should our lives be going?
Most New Year's resolutions fall under one of two categories: we either want to have more or be better. I would like to direct us to the example of a man for whom Jesus had great praise as we prepare for the new year.
Jewish Health and Wealth Teaching
To the Hebrews of New Testament times, the accepted teaching was that all physical prosperity was a blessing from God, and that God only blessed godly men. Consequently the more stuff you had the better of a person you were, as proven by your success.
The Jews valued people who had it all together, and assumed that God valued those kinds of people as well. They valued people who were strong and confident, well-versed in Scripture, faithful followers of the Law and upstanding citizens who saw success in all of their undertakings.
In other words, the Jews of Jesus' day wanted the same things we want today. They wanted a religion that would prosper them, one that would set them apart from their neighbors. They wanted to have more and be better.
Enter John
The Jews were continuing in their own Old Testament version of "health and wealth," when something rather bizarre happened. John came. John was doubtless a prophet, yet he had very little to recommend him. The Pharisees mocked him for this.[i] However, his teachings were even stranger to them than his life. He taught people to give things away, rather than stocking their own storehouses.[ii] He even went as far as to say later to his own followers that the work of God in his own life would continue to diminish him; not only his possessions, but also his popularity and importance.[iii] This was the exact opposite of a health and wealth system. Like Paul many years later, John the Baptist would be used up, poured out like a drink offering in the service of God.[iv]
Prepare Ye the Way (Luke 3)
Think about this. Why did John come? To prepare the way for God's great work. Literally to remove the obstacles. God was coming, and the people needed to be prepared to receive the work of God. John was the messenger to prepare them; and how did he do that? What obstacles lay in the path that needed removal? What was keeping these people from God? Their own self-sufficiency. Their quest to be full. Their obsession with their own religious pedigree, personal credibility, and growing coffers.
In Luke chapter 3, John first tells the Jews not to rely upon their heritage to earn clout with God. "Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'."[v] God is the one who raises and lowers people. Paul later reminds us that we have nothing we have not been given.[vi] We have nothing spiritual to wave in the air to impress God.[vii]
The people asked John what specifically they should do. The Jews placed great emphasis upon the possessions they had; and so John's answer was to break down that empire of self. Give away your excess. As Jesus said soon after, possessions do not define you,[viii] but it can stand between you and God.[ix]
The Jews of Jesus' day were spiritually broken and needy; but they needed to see themselves as such before they could change direction—before they could repent, and conduct themselves in a way consistent with their repentance. The thing standing in their way was their self-sufficiency, and their self-oriented pursuit of perfection.
A New Year
Now, as we stand looking forward to a new year; let us examine ourselves. Are our lives chiefly oriented around amassing finances, influence, or religious merit? Are our lives spent building ourselves up into the successful and put-together people we wish we were, or pretend we are?
Of course there is nothing necessarily wrong with planning for the future financially and logistically. However, we should be asking ourselves a more important question this year. A question that may or may not be new in the asking. What would it look like if God did a great work in you?
What does God want to do with or through you this year? If God chose to use you in a special way this year, what would need to happen in your life to prepare the way? Is your heart and soul so full of lesser things, that God is not a felt necessity?
I do not mean to say that we need to "clean up our act" in preparation for God's work. Not at all. We are wholly incapable of fixing ourselves. We are all broken and needy. However, like so many of the Jews of Jesus' day, we may be self-deceived into thinking we're really something, because of our important jobs or our fancy churches or our lists of good deeds.
Are we willing to change direction from the self-sufficiency we want, and come broken and empty to be filled by God? Are we ready for the changes he may want? The works of our repentance? They may be different things than John prescribed to the Jews, but if anything is filling us up and keeping us from God, it should be dealt with without reserve.
Under Grace,
John Fritz
John Fritz is the Volunteer Coordinator for Thoughtful Life Ministries and the primary author of the Thoughtful Life Journal, which is published weekly from March through September. The purpose of this blog is to challenge and encourage those who have a desire to cultivate a more meaningful walk with Christ. Visit our Homepage to learn more about the ministry and our annual two-week summer Discipleship Program for teens and young adults.
[i] Matthew 11:18[ii] Luke 3:1-18[iii] John 3:30[iv] Philippians 3:7-11; Philippians 2:17-18[v] Luke 3:8[vi] 1 Corinthians 4:6-7[vii] Isaiah 64:6[viii] Luke 12:15[ix] Matthew 6:22-24