Over the past few weeks, I have heard many of my friends already sharing their plans for the New Year with me – their New Year’s resolutions. Their lists sound a lot like mine: eat healthier, exercise more, stop a particular habit, get organized, keep a better schedule. Do those plans sound familiar?

We all have them, those aspects of our lives we want to change. The New Year seems the perfect time to focus on ourselves to see what we can change about ourselves to make us better people.  The New Year is a time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we hope to journey. It is a time to daydream about what we can become.

The question is – Is our focus correct?

Unfortunately, the resolutions I do not hear frequently are “To have a closer relationship with God. To focus on God. To make God my daily habit.”

Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Psalm 50:15, “…and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on Him while He is near.”

Most new year’s resolutions fail. We start out with tremendous enthusiasm and plans. We brag to our friends and, with the best of intentions, realize somewhere around January 20th that our proposal was a bit too tough. By mid-February we realize we are right back to our old ways. Is it that we lose focus?  Or is it that our focus is on the wrong thing? God tells us to call on Him! The closer we are to Him, the easier it is for us to have a victory in Him.

Put God at the top of your list this year. Commit to daily devotions and Bible study. Commit to prayer. Determine now that you will eliminate the junk in your life that is contrary to God and His laws. You know what needs to be removed from your heart – throw it out. Rededicate your life to God. I can guarantee you, if you stick to God, He will definitely stick to you.

May God bless you in this New Year.