Nations use different calendars, but the passing of one year to the next is universally marked by a deliberate period of reflection concerning the year that passed and a pledge to begin anew, to change, in the year to come. This is because we all hunger to be made new and, intuitively, we all know that means we must change within if we ever want to experience change around us.

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) wrote in the Daily News:

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Taking Inventory and Making Resolutions

As we end one year and look to a new one, we naturally pause to take inventory. In a rare moment of reflection and honest self-assessment, we admit our failures. We pledge to learn from them and move toward a better future. We all want to be better, to live our lives more fully and to love one another more selflessly. So we make resolutions.

Every New Year I read numerous articles about the questionable efficacy of these New Year’s Resolutions. However, the fact remains, we make them. The experience is universal. The question is — why do we do it? I suggest that they reveal something of our deepest longing. They present us with an invitation to exercise our human freedom and to choose a better way of life. But, we discover that we cannot do it on our own.

Millions will utter sincere words on New Year’s Eve and Day, promising to do better this year. Lists will be compiled — and promises made — to self, to others and to God. Sadly, many will not be kept. These words attributed to Mark Twain too often ring true: “New Year’s Day — now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” But this year can be different, if we turn to Jesus Christ.

When I was a young man, I would write my New Year’s goal list first — and then, in a fit of self-generated enthusiasm, I would ask the Lord to bless it! I know better now. I need the light of the Holy Spirit to even comprehend what is needed if I ever really hope to change. Then, all my well-intended efforts are not enough! I need the grace of God.

New Beginnings

In Little Gidding, the last of the Four Quartets written by T. S. Eliot, we find these words:

Last season’s fruit is eaten
And the full fed beast shall kick the empty pail.
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language.
And next year’s words await another voice. …

What we call the beginning is often the end.
And to make and end is to make a beginning.

Over the years, I have come to realize that every end truly can become a new beginning — for the man or woman who has living faith in a living God who invites us to begin again, again, and again. He alone makes it possible, by sharing His Life with us. This gift is called grace — and through receiving this grace we become what the Apostle Peter called “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4)

“I Make All Things New”

In the third chapter of John’s Gospel we read about an encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus. Jesus tells this devout Jewish leader, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The phrase “born anew” can also be translated “born again” or “born from above,” in the original Greek.

Understandably, the leader was somewhat confused by these words. The encounter continues, “Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?'” (John 3:5)

The same John who wrote that Gospel also wrote the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, while he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. He was given a vision of the ultimate fulfillment of the desire which surfaces during every commemoration of every New Year: that wonderful day when the Lord will return and make all things new. With those words I conclude:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21: 1-5)