New Year, New Hope

My holiday always ends up like a parade of endless food. By the end of December I just want a green salad and a glass of water. My taste buds need a break and a reset. Often times I feel like my spiritual self is the same way. My thoughts are clouded and my heart is not set on the Lord. These are the times I just need to step back and take a break from the world that is constantly pushing me around like the ebb and flow of the tide.

Take my to-do list, for instance. It gets the best of me. I write it all down full of hope. I don’t complete half of it because I am always over-zealous in my list making. Then I judge myself on how much I get done. My hope is drowned in the tide of too much to do. Or maybe it is my relationships. I have this hope of how things should go, what people will say, how they will react, or how wonderful everything will be. Life is messy and people are people. “Never put your hope in people,” my sister-in-law would always tell me. “You’ll always be disappointed. Put your hope in Christ. He never disappoints.” I don’t always remember those wise words, therefore, I’m often disappointed in myself and others. Hope recedes.

My heart deceives me with false hope. What am I to do? Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Amen to that, right? I know this all too well. But listen to the first part of verse 10: “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind . . .” I may not truly understand my heart and why I fill it with false hope, but my LORD does understand. Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Do I treasure the accomplishments of my to-do list and the acceptance of those around me more than I treasure my Lord? Sadly, sometimes I think I do. They are subtle idols I allow into my thoughts, into my heart. Like all hidden idols, they create disaster. They weigh on my thoughts. They play with my heart. They defeat me time and again. I cannot place my hope in what I do or the people around me. I must place my hope in what the LORD does. I need the LORD’s word and the LORD’s help like I need a green salad and a glass of water.

I need a reset, so I cry, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). And I say, “Teach me Your way, O LORD, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name” (Psalm 86:11). And I am thankful, because my LORD promises me, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26). The LORD’s sweet words spill over me with a healing warmth I know I do not deserve, but He graciously gives. And I take it!

Maybe you are like me. Maybe the subtle idols of your heart are playing with you, too. Take the reset. Take the gracious gift offered to you in His word. What better time than the New Year to do this! Like a clean sheet of paper that holds endless possibilities, your pure heart, given to you by the LORD, can hold a world of real hope found in Christ this year. Take it and don’t let go.

Dear Lord, Thank you for Your hope that does not disappoint. Thank you for the promises of a new heart, Your Spirit, and the opportunity to get life right in Your eyes. I know that things do not always go my way. I don’t always finish my to-do list. I don’t always have perfect relationships, but I do always have You. Let me stand firm in Your presence and in Your promises. Thank you. In the sweet name of Jesus, Amen.