“Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.” – 1 Peter 2:16
“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you,not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.” – 2 Peter 3:8-10
As I try to think up a resolution for the new year, no new ideas come through. Only a somber song is stuck in my head as old ways leave me deaf, dumb and blind to thinking up anything new.
After all, I am already resolved to do many things regardless of the ticking of the clock or the changing of the date. I could say, “I resolve to be more resolved in the things I’ve already resolved to do,” but that doesn’t sound like much of a resolution – at least not one that I should share publicly without shame.
I guess I could eat better (i.e. eat less.) I could always work out a bit more. I could watch much less TV or stop mindlessly scrolling through whatever boring slop comes across my phone screen. I could read more great books. I could write more personalized letters. I could find a woman to marry and to love. I could be more considerate to others. I could be more generous with my time. I could be more charitable to those I find unkind, not returning evil for evil, neither cursing them in public nor reviling them in the secrecy of my mind. I could pray more for my enemies and be much less suspicious of my friends.
I could do these things and more – yet why do anything because of one year’s beginning after yet another year’s end?
Shouldn’t I be resolved to live freely, no matter the hour or the day? Is it any wonder that most New Year’s resolutions fall prey to old ways? Perhaps, instead of looking to a new year, we should consider the time we have been given as the last of days.
Indeed, most resolutions made for the new year are destined to lose their resolve by February, if not the very first day of the first week of January. Most resolutions are too vaguely plotted to keep pace with tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow – and play into the poor pent-up psychology of too many yesterdays. Many people claim, “This new year, I’ll live free!” Yet, most end up living by the tragic motto “New year, same old me.”
If only living freely were as easy as counting the calendar or listening to the ticking of the clock! If only liberty could be reborn in every man, every time some New Year’s ball drops!
We bind and divide time to watch the inevitable countdown of our days. Yet, from seconds to months to millennia, we too often fail to divide and bind ourselves from old to new ways.
Watching the countdown to a new year is nothing like witnessing the shock of a man born anew. There is no manmade clock for us to time when grace begins or when the race is through.
Man’s gift of liberty does not proceed akin to a self-winding watch. Behind even the most timely, self-wound man, there is an eternal Watchmaker who timelessly winds the mainspring of his life and creation’s clock.
Perhaps our New Year's resolutions rarely hold true. Perhaps, no changing of our clocks could ever give us the grace to change the wrong we are prone to do. Perhaps, no New Year resolutions could ever free us from our yesterdays. Perhaps, instead of looking to a new year, we should consider the time we have been given as the last of days.
Again, as I try to think up a resolution for the coming year, no new ideas come through.
Only a somber song is stuck in my head, yet it asks a question so true:
"If your last December came,
What would you do? Would anybody remember
To remember you?
Did you stand tall?
Or did you fall?
Did you give your all?
…
In the name of the Father
In the name of the Son
We need to come together
Come together as one"
Be it resolved, may I live anew as a free man in servitude to God as though this is my last December in the last days before the heavens pass away and the elements dissolve with fire – though, of course, I do not know when the day of the Lord will come like a thief, whether it be one day or a thousand years away.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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