For a change.....

12 months have passed by. 2009 has come to an end and we have stepped into 2010 . The thought of 31^st December drew our attention to the dawn of a new year. Some of us were concerned about what we would share before the church on the same day, during the ‘watch-night’ service. Probably some of us were concerned about the answer we would give our friends had  they asked us, “what resolutions have you made for the New Year?” 31^st night is the night for ‘resolutions’. Still others took time (on the 31st, of course!) to review the days gone by (12 months!) and ‘decide’ to change in the forthcoming year. There are still others who did not give much prominence to that particular day. 31^st of December is just like any other day – “it’s the end of another month and the end of another year”. I fall into this category. And I have chosen this stand for 2 reasons.  

1.     Traditionalism:

We have become so used to a particular ‘system’ – the ‘system’ that says that on the 31^st of Dec, we will need to finally bring about a change in our lives. No one taught so. But, we have thought so! And by thinking so over the years, we have aligned our lives to such a ‘system’.

We have heard people pronounce before us that they would (from then on) begin to live lives differently. “Perhaps,” we have thought, “this is what I need to do too!” And so, we wait. We wait till the end of the year to make decisions. We wait till the end of the year to make new goals. We wait till the end of the year to ask God for another chance. We wait till the end of the year to renew our commitments. This is what people commonly do. And we fall into the same boat. We choose their system - their tradition. This is the ‘trend’ we choose. And that is a risky affair!

 2.     Untimely check-up

Unfortunately, Dec 31^st happens to be THE day when we give more prominence to the ‘kind of life we lived’, calculate the ‘amount of time wasted’, the ‘chances we have missed’, the ‘unwise decisions’ we had made, etc. “Finally,” we think, “I need to do some retrospection - I need to ask questions to myself...about my life..about the way I live...”

 This is poor management. We ‘check’ our lives at the ‘end’ of the year. We have wasted 12 (or sometimes 10; perhaps 9) months for this day. Wasted time. Wasted moments. Wasted lives! This is, therefore, not THE time to ‘check’ our lifestyle. This is just another time, along with other days, to ‘evaluate’ our lives. Untimely choice, I would say.

 So what do we do? Let me turn your attention to what godly people would say. Paul exhorts Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (I Tim 6:11b; II Tim 2:22b). The author to the Hebrews urges believers to “pursue holiness” (Heb 12:14). The word pursue suggests two thoughts – first, that diligence and effort are required; second, that it is a lifelong task (implying daily commitments). God calls for ‘daily commitments’ – a daily break from sin to God. He looks for ‘daily renewal’. But ‘renewal’ isn’t possible without ‘daily check-ups’. This is how the Christian life is – it is a ‘process’. It is a ‘process’ where we begin to align our lives to the will of God on a daily basis. That is, as God begins to show areas in my life that are in need of change; I begin to orient my life accordingly day after day (not at the end of the year!). This is how we ought to live.

 

31^st (Dec) night is not the only night, then, for us to make commitments. It is not the only night for us to declare that we are in need of change. 31^st night is not the only night where we should take 'extra' effort to declare God’s loyal love. It must happen daily, weekly, and monthly – all through the year.

 

Let our declarations of God’s loyal love be present all through the year. Let our pleadings for prayers concerning our change exist all through the year! May 31^st Dec night be not the only night where we ask people to pray for us so that we would remain faithful to God. May 31^st night be not the only night where we would pronounce before the people of God that we would live changed lives. May 31^st night not be the only night where we would make commitments. May it happen all through the year! May we not follow the existing ‘system’. May we involve in frequent, continual, perpetual check-ups.