Between Christmas and the New Year, and for a couple of weeks into January, we wrestle with whether or not we’ll make a list of New Year’s resolutions. Maybe we’ve sworn off them as more trouble and heartache than they’re worth.
But why are they a ‘thing?’ I propose that we consider them to help deal with some level of discontentment in life. That life is not as it could be, that things could be better.
Imagine however that you did write a list, and you just put down one goal
– BE CONTENT. For the Bible calls us to be content with what we have.
Philippians 4:11-12
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
1 Timothy 6:8
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Imagine having being content in all circumstances in life as the goal for 2020. How freeing! But Biblical contentment does not come from pure detachment from all things. It comes from finding contentment in God, and hope in tough times from his unfailing presence.
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Yes, there will always rightly be things to be discontent about in a fallen world – sin, suffering and sorrow. But what if we committed, first and foremost, to being content in God this year? God who gives us hope that he will be with us through these things, and will resolve all of this world’s problems, in the one to come.
SAM PURSELL