Yes, you read that title correctly. I’m late to the game and I’m writing about New Years when I could be writing about Valentine’s Day. Some may see that as a missed opportunity, or bad marketing, but I like to think outside the box, so here we are.
With the New Year comes a new opportunity for introspection. We can look back on this period of time, one year, a helpful metric, and think on how far we’ve progressed or regressed, how we’ve grown closer to the Lord or been drawn away from Him, and we can make plans to help us improve in the coming months. Now it’s February, so you’ve had a whole month to think about it, no excuses.
And the internet is full of articles that are meant to help you take advantage of this next year to become a better you, from both Christian and non-Christian sources. Many of these articles can be beneficial, it’s good to workout and exercise, eat clean, or practice spiritual disciplines (like reading Scripture, having time for quiet prayer, serving in the church, etc..), but most of these types of articles ignore our deepest need and the greatest catalyst for change. You do not need to work harder to be a better Christian this year, you do not need to labor for God’s love or grace. The potential for personal growth comes not from within, but from without.
In his devotional, Honey From the Rock, Abraham Kuyper comments on the text of the Prodigal Son, focusing specifically on this line from Luke 15:29, spoken by the elder brother of the story: “I have been serving you now for all these many years.”
Kuyper writes: “Think about something. Before you start a new year, think about how you are living your life before the face of the living God.” a Think about how you have been living your life coram Deo, is it one of striving for God’s favor? Have you been working under the pretense that God needs your good deeds? Or have you been serving in hopes of better treatment from God’s hand, or even, for forgiveness? Kuyper’s admonishment is to abandon our sense of entitlement for many years of service to the Lord.
“But in all of this [service] there is no free pass for you any more than for all the best of your brothers and sisters in the Lord. The question is not whether you serve him, but whether there is any vitality in that service, any faith in that vitality, and any increase in being filled with the Spirit in that faith.” b
Where the prodigal son erred on the side of unrighteousness, the elder brother erred on the side of self-righteousness. Both brothers, however, did not view their work as the work of sons, but of slaves. The elder viewed his loyalty and hard work as deserving of praise, the younger viewed his work as a means of repentance.
Maybe you’re like me and were raised in the church; our temptation is to view our “years of service” as a sort of spiritual loyalty punch-card. We have paid our dues: where’s our fatted calf? But what good is our service if it lacks faith? What good is our service if done out of obligation? Or maybe you are more like the younger brother and think of your service as a way to regain God’s favor. It is easy to assume this posture after being convicted or found to be in sin, but we forget that the Father’s grace comes free of charge. Kuyper calls us all to serious self-examination, not for the purpose of viewing the New Year as a new opportunity to do more than before and so prove our loyalty, or as a way of atoning for our past mistakes, but to humble ourselves before God and throw ourselves upon His mercies and to rely on His power.
If this is you, as it is often me, hear these words of encouragement:
“Extol what he has accomplished in you over many years. Be washed in the blood of the Lamb and reach out for quiet fellowship with him… What an opportunity this has presented for you to reflect with greater urgency on the length and breadth of Christ’s love for you.”c
Take this and every New Year, new month, new day, and even this new moment to praise God what He has done in your life, rest in the sure promise that Christ’s work is far more effective than your own and His service accomplished more than ours ever will. His mercies are new every morning, our years of striving will not get us any more mercy than has been given to the most recent convert.
If you are looking to the coming months hoping for growth or change, look no further than to the cross. It is at the cross that our striving was put to death, now we can get to the real business of the faith: Learning to walk with the Father as His sons and daughters. As Ephesians 1:5 teaches us, “In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.” We were not chosen to slavishly labor for the grace that comes in Christ, instead we receive it freely as children of God.
To read more about Abraham Kuyper and his work, click here.
And to purchase the work I referenced, Honey From the Rock, you can find that on Kindle here.
- Kuyper, Abraham. Honey from the Rock: Daily Devotions from Young Kuyper (Kindle Locations 384-385). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition. (back)
- Ibid., 391-393. (back)
- Ibid., 427-428. (back)
