A New Year, A New You?

By Keith Watson

The New Year is always a great time of assessment and goal setting. Most of us pause with the coming of the new year and reflect on all that has taken place in the previous year - good or bad. That reflection often leads us to take steps, if only in our minds, toward a better year.

A recent survey from Lifeway Research showed that around 52% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions have resolved to get healthy! I confessed Sunday that I have gained about 15 pounds over the last year or two. This didn’t come as news to me on New Year’s Eve. I have known it for a while, and I have even been unhappy about it. But I haven’t been bothered enough or motivated enough to do anything. Magically, the new year has me determined to get back in the gym, back to healthier eating, and 15 pounds lighter!

An interesting resolution emerged in the Lifeway survey. Around 35% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions resolved to strengthen their relationship with God. What makes me excited about this resolution is that a fair percentage of those who want to strengthen their relationship with God include nominal Christians and religiously unaffiliated. I think this is great news!

BUT - if you are one of the 35%, I have to tell you, left on your own you are likely going to fail in your resolution. You need help. We all do. And the help that you need is more than just having a place to show up.

Think about all of the resolutions to “get in shape.” Thousands and thousands of people of people will join a gym this week. Gyms will be fuller than they’ve been in at least a year, filled with people like me, looking to shed their COVID 15!
But, within a month or two the vast majority of resolution makers will be gone.
DON’T STOP READING HERE AND BECOME DISCOURAGED!
Think about why it is that people stop going.
For most it isn’t that it’s too hard or that they are too lazy.
It isn’t that they lack a place to go that provides an opportunity to lose weight and get in shape.

The real problem, for most, is a lack of connection with others on a similar journey and with similar struggles. People stop because they are easily distracted or dismayed with their progress and have no one to cheer them on. We all need help, encouragement, and someone to walk with. Find a gym mate who will go to workouts with you regularly and check in on you when you aren’t there and you will be more likely to stick with the exercise and become a better you. Connect with no one, try it on your own, and soon you will be a gym statistic.

Seeking to grow in your relationship with God can be the same way! You need help. You need to be connected with people who are on a similar journey. Some may be ahead of you in the pursuit of God; some may be with you, and others may be lagging. Together you learn, grow, and encourage one another on the journey. You need someone who will check in on you when you fail to show up. You need someone you can ask questions and who may ask you some questions.

And then there’s this.
Going to the gym and watching others workout, listening to their labored breathing and pain filled grunts and groans will not help you in your journey to a healthier you. You have to get in and do the work. You have to lift the weights, pedal the pedals, run the miles. The same is true for going to a church service and hoping your relationship with God will be changed. Listening to others sing and someone else preach or teach will only go so far! You have to jump in and sing the songs as well. You have to read the verses and think about the teaching. You need to engage with other learners where the Bible is read and discussed. You need to be prayed for and you need to pray. Just like going to the gym.

Don’t let this intimidate you!

Here’s the thing.
A good gym is a community of people on the same journey. A good gym makes it relatively easy to start the journey and to connect with others on the same journey.

A good church does the same thing, and I happen to know a great church that would love to be a part of your journey - New City Church!
It’s true.
New City is an incredible people! Some are far down the road in their journey with Jesus, while others have just begun their journey. And one of my favorite groups at New City are those who haven’t really started the journey yet, but are thinking about what that might look like. We are a church of younger-aged and older-aged, of singles, marrieds, divorced, and widowed. We have large families and small families. We are a people with a variety of skin colors. We are people from wealth and people from poverty. We are people educated and people with little education. We are people who grew up Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, Atheist, Agnostic, and most anything else.
At our core, we are a people who have found Jesus and love Him, and we love helping others discover him as well!

While Sundays are some of my favorite days with New City, gathering with such a great mix of people, our Missional Communities (MCs) are the the real place for connecting and growing. These small groups of New City gather in homes all over Middle Georgia during the week. Here we live out the “one anothers” of Scripture, like love one another, help one another, encourage one another, and build one another up. MCs are intentionally diverse and designed to help one another grow in in knowing and loving Jesus. Our MCs are truly family, serving together, serving one another, meeting needs, helping with kids, and learning together. You can’t really experience New City without diving into a Missional Community.

So here’s my invitation:

In light of your desire to grow in your relationship with God, join us!
Jump in. Sing with us. Read with us. Learn with us. Ask us questions and ask questions with us.
Come on Sundays. Serve with one of our Sunday morning teams.
Join a Missional Community.
Commit for at least 6 weeks to be all in and not miss anything.
Commit for 6 weeks to do life with us as we seek to grow as well.
Commit to six weeks. What have you got to lose?
I think if you will, you’ll truly find a new you this new year!

Let me know and I’ll save you a seat with me.