What do David, Mary, and Paul have in common?
They all sought one thing.
Maybe you’ve sought one thing before, too—the acceptance letter, the friend group, the job promotion. We don’t have to look far to find our last fixation. But what happens when those things are constantly on our minds? It’s no longer about getting the interview lined up but about all your friends posting their latest job promotion and the number of hours you spent polishing your resume only to get another rejection. It becomes the one thing constantly demanding our attention, telling us we are not good enough, we are too weak, or that this is what determines our success.
The “one things” haunt us. We try with all our might to get rid of them; we fill our minds with other things, only to find that one thought is still waging war and winning.
I recently revisited my 2023 New Year’s resolutions, bracing myself for the all-consuming thoughts of disillusionment that often follow. Did I accomplish my heart’s ambitions and have the year I blissfully envisioned for myself?
The truth is that our realities look quite different from our cherished resolutions. We fall short of them or sometimes don’t even get close to making progress. But, as I scanned my list, there was one resolution that filled me with hope:
- Do everything for God’s glory.
It’s easy to let resolutions be the one thing reigning over our minds as we conjure the best action plan for the year ahead. Or even as we beat ourselves up for not following through with our goals. Yet, in light of God’s salvation, we don’t have to try so hard to reach an impossible standard—Christ already met that standard for us at the cross. Instead, we can stand firm in his victory, receiving his grace and seeking to honor him with God-glorifying thoughts and resolutions. We can hold loosely to our resolutions, trusting that God ultimately has the best plan to advance his glorious name.
But what do we do when last year’s failures and new year anxieties threaten to hijack our minds? How do we set our minds on God-honoring goals?
Hear the victory purchased by our Lord at the cross:
“by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
Colossians 2:14-15
The enemy might be after our minds, but Christ has already triumphed over all his schemes against us. Just like a Roman general parading his defeated enemies through Rome, Christ publicly displayed his superior power over Satan by conquering sin once and for all. All sins—defeated! Even the chaotic thought swirling through your mind right now is under the triumphant authority of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But if we are still in the throes of the battlefield, how can we reclaim that victory?
The One Thing We Need
David, a seasoned veteran in this war, had an effective game plan to blindside the enemy of our minds and stand firm in the truth of our Savior.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 27:1
Have you ever been so afraid that you can’t stop thinking of the worst possible scenarios? As a king commissioned by God, I’m sure David had many enemies, both in his mind and on the battlefield. Many thoughts could’ve arrested David’s mind, yet he chose to set his gaze on the light of his life.
Light
Salvation
Stronghold
All of David’s descriptions of God directly combat a fear:
- If we believe God is our light, we won’t fear getting lost.
- If we believe God is our salvation, we won’t fear defeat.
- If we believe God is our stronghold, we won’t fear attacks.
David didn’t have to fear anyone or anything because God was on his side. Since God had proven to be all David needed, David longed for just one thing: he yearned to live continually in the presence of his God, the I AM, the one who supplies every need and desire.
So, what does this one thing look like? What does it mean to seek God’s presence as we set our New Year’s resolutions?
I believe Mary has a good grasp on how to best gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.”
Luke 10:38-39
As soon as we wake up, we have every possible thought fighting for our attention. How will I get that project done at work? I shouldn’t have said that last night. It’s the end of the week, and I’m still not caught up with my to-do list. Our thoughts assault us from left to right.
Martha did well to receive Christ as an honorary guest. But, like many of us, her plan to serve before receiving from the Lord left her anxious, distracted by the many preparations that still needed attending. On the other hand, Mary chose to be discipled by Christ before anything else. She chose the one thing she needed the most.
“There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:42, NLT
Before Mary could serve, she knew she needed to align her heart’s motivations with the Lord’s. Just like David, she positioned herself to receive the sufficiency of her God, which empowered her to fight any recurring lies, fears, and sins assailing her. This one thing, seeking God’s presence, enabled her to rest at Christ’s feet regardless of the many thoughts demanding her time.
Martha might’ve called Christ “Lord,” but Mary surrendered her plans and made Christ her Lord.
Like Mary, the more we make Christ our Lord first thing in the morning, hearing his truth and applying it to our lives, the more aligned our thoughts will be with God’s will. We gain the one thing that never changes: more of God’s eternal presence in our lives.
While you may still struggle with thoughts of defeat or anxiety from New Year’s resolutions, you now have a game plan that makes the enemy cower because he knows that the one living inside us is always greater than the one in the world. Setting our New Year’s resolutions doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be a time of joy and expectation in light of Christ’s victory! He purchased a deep intimacy with our Father that should give us hope for his guidance, peace, and fruitfulness for this new year. Like Paul, we can relinquish the burdens from this past year to embrace the fullness of God’s presence:
“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,”
Philippians 3:13
We may not know what lies ahead, but we can trust that seeking God’s presence first and foremost will set us up for God-honoring resolutions.
How does your secured victory in Christ change your perspective on resolutions? Pray that God changes your mind to rest in this victory and seek to glorify him above all things this year.
Photo Credit: Emilee Carpenter
Long before Ela knew of storytelling as a vehicle for gospel-fueled transformation, she was already crafting stories with hopeful endings. While this went on for a while, her journey took a drastic turn when she went to Taylor University and encountered hope in the face of God. He was the ultimate hope she was searching for amidst her stories. With that knowledge came new layers of storytelling—photography, baking, videography, and more. She now enjoys studying the Word of her personal God and sharing what he is teaching her through the art of writing.
