2021
Each year on 1 January they bring in extra gym equipment. The place is packed out. By about 7 January, they move out all the extra equipment, as most people have given up their New Year’s resolution, and the gym returns to normal!
Get fit
Lose weight
Quit drinking
Stop smoking
Get out of debt
There is nothing wrong with making these common New Year’s resolutions. Of course, all of us make resolutions that we fail to keep.
The good news is that each year is an opportunity for a fresh start. But then so is each week. Every Sunday is the first day of the week – a new beginning. Actually, every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
The first three words in the Bible are, ‘In the beginning…’ (Genesis 1:1). Each of the passages for today tells us something about new beginnings and new opportunities and suggests some possible New Year’s resolutions.
‘Delight’ in the Bible - Psalm 1:1-6
If you are beginning the challenge to read the Bible in One Year, this psalm has encouraging words for you.
The promise is that if you ‘delight’ in God’s Word and ‘meditate’ on Scripture ‘day and night’ (v.2, MSG), your life will be blessed. Happiness comes from what happens to you. Blessing is what happens to you through knowing God and meditating on his words.
God promises you fruitfulness (‘which yields its fruit in season’, v.3b), vitality (‘whose leaves do not wither’, v.3c), and prosperity ('whatever they do prospers', v.3d), though not necessarily material prosperity!
This message is backed up by a glance across at the ultimate fate of ‘the wicked’. The psalmist does not try to pretend that the wicked don’t sometimes prosper. He simply reminds us of the transitory nature of their prosperity – ‘they are like chaff that the wind blows away… [they] will perish’ (v.4,6).
The key to lasting – and ultimately eternal – fruitfulness and vitality lies in your relationship with God. As you seek to follow ‘the way of the righteous’, you are assured that the Lord himself will watch over you (v.6).
Lord, thank you for your wonderful promises as I resolve to make a regular habit of delighting in your word and meditating on it.
