The LORD is my Shepherd, I will not be in need.

It’s the New Year, and every new year comes with being inundated with the pressure and the expectation to make resolutions, to set goals, and to be seeking to improve ourselves.

All the experts are sharing their wisdom on how to make lasting changes, how to break habits forever, and how to break down these goals into manageable steps to ensure lasting success.

We’re told knowledge is power, and the more we educate ourselves, the more power and control we will have to live our best lives now. The more we understand who we are, and why we are the way we are, the more we will be able to become who we want to be. These experts have spent their lives studying human behavior, and have spent millions of dollars on researching, testing and refining their diagnosis, prognosis, and prescriptions.

And yet, here we are again, a new year, still facing the same problems.

I think what the author of Romans wrote two-thousand years ago is relevant to each one of us today.

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” Romans 7:15, 18-19

Being a woman in Christ, and seeking to know how to live this identity out, how do I reconcile the truth of this war waging within me with the truth that in Christ I have been set free, I am victorious, I am more than conquerors, I am a new creation? Being a woman in Christ, where do I seek expert knowledge, expert counsel, expert help to truly live in accordance with who I am?

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper/Advocate/Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth…You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. …the Helper, the Holy Spirit, …He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. … Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:16-17, 26-27

There is only one expert on humanity - He who created mankind in His own image. He who sent His own Son to redeem His people after the fall. He who took on flesh Himself. He who sent His own Spirit to restore His image which was distorted in the fall. He has given me Himself, and He is sufficient.

So then, what does God say about the war still waging within me; about my desire to do good, but my inability to carry it out?

“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Once we are born again into Christ, we immediately begin growing, maturing into Christ’s image. We are just as dependent on Him for our sanctification, our spiritual maturity, our perseverance, our glorification as we are on Him for our justification, our forgiveness, our righteousness. He indwells us with His very Spirit and has given us His Word for this purpose, for this process. He is able. I need not fear my own inability, because He who began this good work in me, will certainly bring it to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

Come to Jesus. Come to the Word made flesh. Abide in Jesus. Abide in the Fountain of Living Waters.

You will be blessed, like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3) You will be like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:8) You will be like all kinds of trees for food, growing on both sides of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. (Ezekiel 47:12) You will be rooted and grounded in Love, strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. (Ephesians 3:16-17)

As we walk into another year and face all the temptations from within and without, let us be sure to continually come to Jesus, look to Jesus, take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus, and hold fast to Jesus, the Word of Life, our Hope, our sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. (Hebrews 12:2; II Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 2:16; Hebrews 6:18-19)

-Soli Deo gloria