The new year: 2024; we’ve celebrated the turn of the calendar: one more revolution around the sun. Now what? That’s the question isn’t it? For many Americans the next big thing is the Super Bowl. Even if you’re not a football fan—or a sports fan —you know about the Super Bowl. It’s an extravaganza with music and fireworks and celebrities…and a football game! The presentation of this spectacle goes on for hours and the game winner is crowned the best. And everyone loves admiring the best of pretty much anything. Whatever is the biggest and greatest and most unique of anything, is gazed upon with awe, and perhaps admiration, depending on what’s being considered. Some things get our attention because they’re the worst of the worst. Something, or someone, that is the ugliest or most violent or most dangerous can solicit our awe too. I suppose we could say that our Christ on the cross was viewed as both the best and the worst by those who witnessed His crucifixion: the worst of villains, the most deluded of crackpots, and the greatest of saviors. And for many—most?—of us, our assessment of the Lord has gone through a transition from one to the other. The question is: now what?

For many there’s a letdown after the turn of the calendar. All the anticipation and celebration of the holidays gives way to a certain melancholy. For some the holidays themselves were downright disappointing. Reality didn’t measure up to anticipation. Children—and some adults—didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas. The gathering of extended families produced more strife than celebration. But returning to the routines of the usual is not an appealing proposition either, prompting us to hope for something better from next year’s “holiday season.” In the meantime focus is given to such things as the Super Bowl or other anticipated events. Music and the purveyors of pop culture can be a distraction from the regular pace of our existence. Adoration of the stars of music and movies provides relief from the everyday and the monotonous. In some respects we’re always looking to escape what can seem like the humdrum nature of our existence. Gaping at our phones hour after hour, reading and participating in endless discussions on social media or setting our minds on the latest achievements of computer science and technology—like AI: Artificial Intelligence. Things like this fascinate us and occupy our time as we move on from day to day.

Christians are not immune to this tendency. We may not buy into every fad the unbelieving world presents, but the church has its own routines that often dovetail with the expectations and rituals of the surrounding culture. The origins of the celebration of Christmas are derived from the recognition of the birth of our Savior. Gift giving at Christmas can be viewed as an expression of the gift of salvation initiated by that birth. The celebration of new life in Christ that was inaugurated in Bethlehem shares features of the new to be anticipated with the beginning of a new year. But once the new year begins, and the usual routines of life are reestablished, there is a tendency to look for new distractions to escape the realities of our existence. And Christians can fall into this tendency because their walk with God lacks stimulation, often without their realizing it. Going to church, and even engaging the Lord in the usual regimens of prayer and reading scripture can settle into a routine that lacks an anticipation of the possibilities derived from knowing the Lord. It’s easier to engage familiar routines. We know what’s coming because we’ve been there before. No surprises; it’s just business as usual. Maybe we enter a new phase of the familiar: spring break from school attendance, or reequipping for the change of season—put away the snow blower; service the lawn mower—but the routine is familiar…comfortable. The same thing can happen at Church as the year progresses: a new series of sermons on a different book of the Bible; an altered emphasis for Sunday school instruction; maintenance engaged on the church building: different but familiar. Routine is comfortable; we know what’s coming, no surprises.

Is that really what God has called us to? We may anticipate a “a new heaven and a new earth” at the end of the age (Revelation 21:1), but are we anticipating new things from the Father here and now? Instead of letting ourselves be pacified with the familiar maybe we need to focus on the potential associated with walking with God every day and in every season. Remember the old hymn: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”?

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning in with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand has provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

It’s based in part on Lamentations 3:23, a work probably written during the exile of Judah in the 6^th century BC; and the author of this section could have been the prophet Jeremiah. Given this background, the recognition of the Lord’s continuing provision, and the hope that is derived from that provision, is exceptional under the circumstances. The temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II and the population had been deported to Babylonia. Yet there was a hope expressed that was derived from the knowledge of God. The text goes on to emphasize the Lord’s provision, stating that the “Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.” (Lamentations 3:24-25)

This hope and the acknowledgement of the goodness of our God, was expressed by those in dire straits; an amazing prospect given the circumstances. Our circumstances present a different challenge for American Christians, one in which we need to recognize and acknowledge the Lord’s provision in an atmosphere of abundance; to put our trust in Him rather than focusing on what our world presents. The ancient Israelites were challenged by an atmosphere of defeat. They had lost their homeland; the temple of worship no longer existed, but the prophet knew the God in whom he trusted and was able to see beyond his circumstances. Our dilemma is to acknowledge God in the face of all the possibilities and distractions our culture presents. What we need to focus on are the possibilities derived from knowing the Lord. Other distractions ebb and flow but knowing God the Father can be—should be—“new every morning”! This is beyond the exercise of ritual or the routines of the usual. What we’ve been called to is a relationship, a relationship that can’t be exhausted. Friendships with others—even marriages—can wax and wane. People change over time; we’re all subject to changes of mood, direction, goals; whatever. But the dynamic person of God Almighty doesn’t change. Our understanding of Him changes, but He doesn’t change. And knowing Him and walking with Him has potential every day in every season. Potential for the new, the unexpected, the challenging, is always before us. It’s not a holiday season or a new year that ushers in new possibilities; it’s God Himself. He’s the focus; or He should be. Consider what the Apostle Paul declared when he said that we have “laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him (or her)”. (Colossians 3:10) Our renewal is ongoing; we haven’t been renewed; we’re being renewed. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul stated:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

It’s an ongoing transition that should be taking place; but it’s a transition that requires understanding, diligence…and faith. We have to believe this; we have to seek it; we have to reach for it. If we’re just living our lives according to the rhythms surrounding us—even those of the church—we’ll probably have difficulty progressing toward the goal of Christlikeness. 

Whatever the season; whatever the distraction, our focus needs to be on the Lord. Failure to do that renders us vulnerable to the ups and downs of this world. The ebb and flow of current distractions can titillate but not fulfill. They hold out a promise of fulfillment but they don’t deliver. They come to an end leaving us to search for a new distraction. And this is true even of the distractions often offered by the Church. Anticipation of a new activity, a new season, a new building, a new program, can be beneficial, but it can never eclipse the dynamic nature of knowing, seeking, and becoming a reflection of our Lord. Failure to understand that renders the Church shallow and diminished, prone to disappointment and dissipation; sort of a Christianized version of the world around us. The challenge is to understand this and press in to know the Lord, making the various seasons of Church life merely the backdrop for the ongoing dynamism of our relationship with the One and Only.

How does this happen? I’ve been emphasizing on this blog three basic resources for making progress in our faith; namely Bible study, prayer and church involvement. But those are just the means whereby we can find our way to maturity: a maturity that scripture refers to as: “perfection.” However, it’s possible to engage those activities and still not progress in the faith. Why? Either we don’t know what such maturity entails, or we don’t want to know; or some combination of both. First, we have to know the extent to which our relationship with the Lord can develop; then we need to be willing to pay the price of such a relationship. I’m speaking here as a fellow practitioner of walking with God. I don’t presume to have it all figured out. What I do know is that there’s a place to go in God, and that nobody in this life can exhaust the possibilities. We may be called to different versions of what this walk entails, but the Lord challenges us to seek Him diligently and expectantly, regardless of our vocation. The seasons may change, the social background of this world may revolve, but the Lord in His superintendence is always challenging us to press into Him and follow His lead.