Monday, December 26

 

The start of the New Year is typically the season in which we reflect, rethink, recommit, restart, reignite, and remake our lives. It is the season for resolutions and self-improvements. It is the season to create a better version of us. The problem however, is that twelve days into the season (and this has probably already happened to you) we break some if not all of our resolutions. Perhaps you resolved to go on a diet, save some money, or spend more time with a loved one, but it has not worked out as you had hoped it would. The fact is that by February, most people will have forgotten or given up entirely on their resolutions. Year after year, we fall into the same viscous cycle. We start the year full of hope only to end the year expecting that the next year will be the one when we can finally see our resolutions to completion. Perhaps it is time for a new approach.

 

Philippians 2: 3-4 NIV

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

 

It is a fact that most if not all of our New Year resolutions are self-focused; their intent is to make us (“me” ) a better person. Herein lies the problem, self-centeredness never makes someone a better person, on the contrary, self-centered people are the kind of people we dislike the most. Self-centered people are primarily concerned with the way they look, what they have, and what they do. If you truly want to become a better person by year’s end, if you truly want to see real self-improvement, then do something to make the world a better place. Do something to make someone else’s world a better place. In humility, value others as being above you even if they are not. Humility, more than looks, possessions, or position, is what will make you a better person by the end of the year.

 

In life, self-worth is not determined by personal accomplishments or how much wealth we are able to accumulate. Self-worth is determined by the number of people we were able to help and how much wealth we gave away. Perhaps the time has come for new, New Years resolutions.