It’s the last day of 2023; the dawn of 2024! It has likely been a year full of both the ordinary and the unexpected I imagine; a mixture of unforeseen blessings and trials. How have you grown or changed? We like to think about change and resolve to change on the last day of the year. So what would you like to change this year? Change can make us hopeful if we are in control of what changes we make, or it can make us anxious if we are not in control of what changes come this year. Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew exactly what changes this new year would bring, if we knew the future? We all want to know what the future will bring; what changes will occur and how we should respond. And I want to predict the future for you today to help you avoid some anxiety for the coming year; there are three things that will absolutely happen in 2024. The world around us will change in some way. You and I will change in some way. But God will not change and will remain the same yesterday, today and forever. No matter how you feel about change, you can know for certain that in this coming year, God will not change. And that helps us in two ways: it helps us dwell secure amid all the changes around us and it helps us to truly change all the things about ourselves that we want to. We have an unchanging God even in our ever-changing world. Even amid all the crazy things we saw this past year, even as we face down the uncertainty of 2024, He will not change.

How many of you make New Year’s resolutions? Studies have found now that very few people who make resolutions actually intend to keep them. Instead, we use New Year’s Resolutions simply to signal a new start rather than to be a catalyst for real change in our life. It seems the saying is true: “A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” But, in all seriousness….what is it about New Year’s Day that makes us feel like we have a fresh start? A line in the sand of change? What is it that makes me feel like on December 31st, I have to be the same person I have always been but on January 1st, real change is finally possible? No matter what our resolve to change looks like, the Bible gives us an important perspective on resolve and change and our behavior. In fact, if we understand the Bible’s perspective on change, it can make changing an act of joy and delight, rather than filled with guilt, shame and pressure.

How many of us make New Year’s Resolutions? Over the last couple of years, an interesting trend has started with New Year’s Resolutions. Studies have found now that FEW people who make resolutions actually intend to keep them, but now they are simply made to signal a new start rather than to be a catalyst for change. So now I just say that I resolve to do something, just to signal that I want to change it. It seems that what they say is true: “A New Year's Resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. But, in all seriousness….what is it about New Year’s Day that makes us feel like we have a fresh start? Another chance? A line in the sand of change? What is it that makes us feel like on January 1st, real change is finally possible, that in our minds everything is new or at least has the possibility of being new? This Sunday we are going to look at what Scripture says about real and lasting change, and offer real and practical advice from the Bible on how we can truly change in ways that matter. In ways that move beyond simply resolving to do better.