New Year’s Resolution Check-In

Ed Girard

Before New Year’s Eve I happened to read The Babylon Bee’s predictions for 2023 that was pretty funny. There were the regular predictions about loved or hated political figures and current world events. The funny one that caught my attention was the first prediction, which was “January 1 - Millions set out to read their entire Bible,” followed by “January 4 – Dozens still reading their entire Bible.” The list finished up with “December 31 – The last remaining person sill reading through their Bible finally finished it.” The humor is that this is pretty accurate. A large number of us have announced a resolution or two for the year ahead. We are now two weeks into the new year. How are you doing on yours?

It is likely you have at some point in the past, or maybe even this year, included reading the Bible daily, reading the entire Bible in one year, or something similar as one of your new year’s resolutions. It’s also likely that many of you, including myself, failed, just like we failed many of the other resolutions that we so publicly announced to our spouse, loved ones, fiends, or co-workers. So, as humorous as the Babylon Bee prediction was about reading the Bible in a year, it kind of stings a bit because it reminds us that we failed. Spending time reading the Bible shouldn’t be in the same category as losing a few of those unwanted pounds.

Ok, I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. Most resolutions fail because we do them for the wrong reason and have the wrong goal and focus. I struggled spending time in the Bible until the day I stopped focusing on reading the Bible. I realized that what I really wanted was to know Jesus better and I was focusing on reading instead of on what I really wanted. Once my perspective changed so did my relationship with God’s Word. For those out there who made reading the Bible a resolution for 2023, stop for a moment and evaluate what you really hope to achieve by reading the Bible. If you set your goal on deepening your relationship with Jesus instead of achieving a reading goal, I bet you can have the last laugh on the Babylon Bee prediction.