What Will Rule Your Life This Year

As a new year begins, what do you want your life to be shaped by as the days move forward?

We typically look at an annual calendar and plan critical things - time home every month, family gatherings, church, community groups, travel and much more.

It’s a snapshot of the year and we try to stick to it if possible. With it comes new friends, sickness, death and unexpected circumstances. Yet, we find it’s best to have a plan.

Along with that it’s good to ask practical questions:

- What do you want to accomplish?

- What or who will you put on your calendar?

- What will end up ruling your life this year?

- Where will your time, money, and energy go?

- What goals? Goals have deadlines. Without them, they are just ideas.

- Do you actually have a plan? And how will you work your plan?

- What needs to change in your life?

- What habits should stop? What habits should start?

And eventually the question that puts everything into perspective. How are you preparing for death, because we all die.

These questions and plans tend to narrow everything down and set a pace for the year.

As we make plans, I feel we do better if they are plans for a lifetime - especially the big things; worship, prayer, health, exercise, church, meeting with friends and other things that really form who we are.

Yes, it is all important. And no, you cannot do everything perfectly. But you can try.

You can draw a line, write “start,” and give it your best to finish well. You will mess up. When you do, draw another line and start again. One day you will look back and see all those lines. You may not be where you want to be, but you will not be where you were.

I think the most important question underneath all of this is simple. What will lord over you and me? Something will.

For me, what drives the train of my life is Jesus Christ. First, He saves my soul when I die. And to be realistic, I could die this year.

That matters more than anything else. “Christ died for our sins once and for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18, NCV)

Why is this critical? Because Jesus lived a life I was not willing to live. He lived the perfect life God requires. And He did that specifically for you and for me.

“Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NCV)

Not only does He save, He is my Lord. I do not want people, schedules, or tasks to lord over me. I want Christ to be my Lord. The Savior part is easy. Allowing Him to be Lord is something entirely different. It takes a love for Him.

So the question becomes what is lording over your life right now? What will lord over you this year?

Is it comfort? Success? Control? Approval? Your Scheudle? Trying to get more stuff? Or is it gratitude for being saved? Paul told the Corinthians: “You were bought at a price. So honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NCV)

This gratitude changes how you and I live. Not out of obligation, but out of response, love, and a lifetime decision to grow and mature.

When you and I follow what Christ teaches, you are following what God spoke to Him.

“The things I say are just what the Father told me to say.” (John 12:49, NCV)

Living out God’s ways brings life. It heals, restores, inspires, and energizes. Jesus said, “I came so that people would have life, and have it to the fullest.” (John 10:10, NCV)

And God does not leave you to do this alone. “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.” (John 14:26, NCV)

God provides. God protects. God leads. God is life and love. “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, NCV) So God must stay central.

Everything else in life fits inside these beliefs. Work. Goals. Habits. Plans. Relationships. They are not the source. They are the expression. This is what fuels and energizes everything else.

So what about you? What is driving the train of your life? And is it time for a change that lasts for life? What decisions and changes will you make - for life?

LORD, thank You for saving me and leading me. Thank You for sending Jesus to live the life I would not live and to pay the price I could not pay. Holy Spirit, guide my steps and shape my desires. Help me live in gratitude and obedience as Christ leads my life. IJNIP amen ♥️