one key to being the best 2015 version of ourselves

Well, Christmas has officially come and gone. Though I’m not exactly sure when our needle-shedding, dead tree will actually make it out of the house. Call it “denial.”

So with the festivities behind us, we all know what now lingers ahead of us: the infamous New Year’s resolution. Dun dun dun. Oh the pressure.

 

 

Truth: We all want to be healthier or fitter or smarter or more organized or some combination of all the above. I get it. I’m right there with you. I’ve already said I want to be read-ier in 2015 because my vocabulary is quickly diminishing (into non-words like “read-ier”) and I’m alluding to television programs way too often in normal conversation. As if I’m friends with the characters from Parenthood.

But I’m here today to smash all the expectations that we place upon ourselves. Because if we’re really honest, we’ll be the same person three days into the new year that we are today. Sorry to burst your 2015 perfection bubble. Oh we may eat more green stuff or put a gym membership card on our keychain or clean out the hall closet. But our core struggles, our inner weaknesses, our daily battles will be basically the same unless…

Unless we begin with one primary goal.

 

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

 

I’m reading a little book called “We Would See Jesus” by Roy Hession. It was a Christmas gift — one of the catalysts that launched me into I-need-to-read-more-books mode. In the very first chapter Hession asks a question that’s been plaguing me for days, “Is God Himself your ultimate pursuit or are you simply pursuing His benefits?”

In other words, am I giving my greatest energies to seeking after God Himself — seeking relationship with Him — or am I giving my greatest energies to seeking His blessings? The thought has caused me pause.

Yes, blessings follow when we walk intimately with our Lord. Peace comes. Hope rises. Joy wells up. But if we’re seeking God’s benefits to the neglect of seeking actual relationship with our Lord, then we’re missing the real beauty of life in Him.

If the 2015 version of me (and you) is going to be any different — any better — than the 2014 version, then our first “goal” for this new year has to be an ever-deepening relationship with the all-sufficient Lover of our soul. Anything less will never be enough.

 
Fill me, Lord…

Have you set any 2015 goals?
What does “seeking deep relationship with God” look like in your day to day?