The new year is almost here and with it comes a sense of hope. Right about now the groans about all the challenges and failures of the current year hit their crescendo. People lament all the things they didn’t accomplish—weight loss, financial goals and habit changes. They recount the year’s unexpected setbacks and unforeseen misfortunes.
Even if mostly symbolic, January 1 is a fresh start. It’s page one of a new calendar. The current, unfulfilled year is nearly in the rearview mirror and in front of you is wide open spaces, a blank canvas…possibilities! You may be thinking, “This will be the year I finally __________.” You know what? You just might! Go for it!
I have just one request. As you evaluate your goals for the upcoming year, ask yourself one question. “Do I expect the accomplishment of this goal to bring me joy?” There are many good reasons to set and chase after goals. Weight loss can be a healthy and rewarding aspiration. An improved financial situation can be liberating. A consistently clean and organized house can reduce stress in your life. However, are you pursuing the goal because you believe it will bring joy to your life? Think about this carefully. The question is not about your quality of life, but your presumptions about satisfaction and contentment. It is about the true source of lasting joy.
Perhaps you should manage your expectations for the new year. I do not mean that as a euphemism for limiting hopefulness. On the contrary, I mean that you may need to expand your expectations. You may need to consider that the Lord may have more challenges in store for you than you expect. Would you find yourself confused and frustrated if you were to be subjected to a very difficult circumstance?
Would you respond with patient humility or with aggravated astonishment? The Bible says you shouldn’t be taken by surprise by these things.
1 Peter 4:12–13 – Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
In light of this truth, how are you preparing yourself for it? How does one learn to be a Christian that is not surprised by fiery trials? Surprise is diminished when you have prepared yourself for it—when you expect it. When those expectations are met, you will be primed to “rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.”
In James 1:2-4 we see how this kind of godly expectation connects to joy.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If the essence of your hope for next year is that you will not lack anything, then you should not be surprised when you experience fiery trials. Various trials, after developing to full maturity in you, will accomplish that goal. They will perfect and complete you. Perhaps you’ve been praying God would give you trials and you didn’t even know it!
The only adjustment to be made then is to pray that God will help you to expect them. Pray that God will help you not to be surprised when He sends a custom-fit hardship to you in the coming year. Are you willing to pray that prayer? Do you mean it? Perhaps you should ask Him to help you with that as well. He loves you too much to give you an adversity-free life.
Do you think you were going to be carried into heaven on a feather bed? Have you got a notion in your head that the road to Paradise is all a lawn, the grass smoothly mown, still waters and green pastures and anon to cheer you? You have just got to clear your heads of that deceitful fancy. The way to heaven is uphill and down hill; uphill with difficulty, down hill with trials. It is through fire and through water, through flood and through flame, by the lions and by the leopards. Through the very mouths of dragons is the path to paradise.” –Charles Spurgeon