Start the year in the right way

 At the start of every year it’s a custom for many people to set themselves goals or new years resolutions to help them kick start a change they want to see happen in their lives. I don’t know whether resolutions are your thing…but here are some ideas people are recommending as we enter into 2026:

Spend less…save more, ask for a pay rise, improve work life balance, eat healthier, exercise more, lose weight, learn a new skill, read more books, take a day off, worry less, step out your comfort zone, travel to a new place, learn a language, spend more time with your friends…

To be honest these ideas are nothing new, through every generation the ideas have been pretty much standard. We know that we often spend too much so saving seems like a good idea, many of us work too hard (even when we retire) and don’t take time to relax, some of us struggle with taking days off, whilst others have perhaps become too comfortable.

The trouble is most of us set out with the right intentions at the start of the year, or even part the way through the year, but the busyness of life seems to quickly take over and we kick the good idea down the road until we have more time… however, all we end up doing is having the same conversation this time next year.

It’s not just the losing weight, the saving more, or the getting our work-life balance right, where we can fail, but it can also be in the spiritual disciplines of our Christian faith where we can perhaps look over the last year and realise we can be found wanting… we haven’t prayed, read our Bible, or shared our faith as much as we should.

With every failed pursuit, whether it be a spiritual discipline or a goal we set ourselves, it can often make us feel guilty and a failure, so it becomes even harder to set a new goal for the next year incase we fail again and, therefore, we sometimes give up altogether.

This can be a real issue in our walk with Jesus. We set out with big goals of reading through the Bible in the year, spending an hour every day in God’s presence, or wanting to share your faith with a friend. You start off well, but by day three you’re already struggling, and by the end of the week you have stopped all together.

I think somewhere along the line we have misunderstood what the Christian faith is all about. Spending time praying or reading the Bible should not be a task or a chore that needs to get ticked off a list, or a resolution that becomes your year’s toughest challenge. Imagine if you talked to your spouse like that - “I’m going to work really hard to spend time with you this year, it’s going to be tough, there will be things I would rather do, I might even stop,  but I’m going to do my best to stick it out, because it’s the right thing to do.” - Good luck with that!!!

So why at times are we guilty of doing exactly that with the God we claim we love?….The primary purpose for reading the Bible and praying is not ritual but it is to spend time with the living God, our saviour; to encounter Jesus, build relationship and get direction for our day to day lives. 

I wonder how many times in the last year we have got into bad habits and allowed our attitude, our focus and/or our motives to be wrong when we have come before God, or that something has pushed God from no. 1 priority in our lives? 

As we move into 2026, may we make a renewed effort to see our times with God as more than an exercise but a life giving opportunity to grow - grow closer to God and grow in depth of faith and character - recognising that every day is a fresh opportunity to connect with Jesus regardless of what else is going on in our lives, for Lamentations 3 v 22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Putting God first will always be the best option as Matthew 6v33 tells us - “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Best Wishes,

Pastor Steve.