We Press On
It’s 2025! A new year full of possibilities and uncertainties; exciting for some and nerve-wracking for others. I tend to fall under the category of being nervous about a new year. The ‘what-if’ game gets played in my mind constantly no matter where we fall in a round of 365, so even when I’m excited about what great things could happen, I’m usually scared to lean into the goodness of a new year. I’m also not a fan of getting older, so the passing of time doesn’t lend itself to feeling great about that aspect of a new year either. How do we lean into a new year with hope in Jesus and not fear of what could happen?
I’ve known several friends who’ve recently faced extremely challenging circumstances in 2024. I have marveled at their faith and strength as they’ve walked sad and awful roads. When I survey the landscape of 2025, I can’t help but fall into an old pattern of worrying that if I fear a particular bad circumstance and express my fears, scary things will happen to me. Magical thinking is a common challenge for many, often a passing superstition, but OCD takes this type of false thinking to another level. Expressing fears out loud should be freeing for us. Magical thinking distorts the power of our thoughts and words by making us fearful that what we are most afraid of will happen to us if we say specific fears out loud. (If magical thinking were real, I’d be a New York Times bestseller in the Christian fiction genre, but I digress…)
God commands us to “be anxious for nothing” (be anxious about literally nothing? For real?). He’s also very direct in the second part of the verse about what we should do instead. He says, “But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Okay, that means we are commanded to tell God our fears and to ask Him for what we need. He cares enough to command us to express all of our requests to HIM! We don’t need to fear what’s ahead because we are told that He wants us to tell Him everything, even the big fears we have about what may lie ahead. This is amazing news!
I’d written half this blog post when Sunday morning arrived and the sermon at church hit different (as my kids like to say), revealing to me how I wanted to end this post. Our pastor discussed the importance of figuring out one thing we can do this coming year to bring us closer to Jesus. He didn’t say it to be legalistic or works-focused but instead lovingly reminded us that we are called and have the privilege to press on toward Jesus. He challenged us to rethink how we will face this new year by repositioning our hearts in the direction of Christ with small changes done out of a desire to be closer to Him. I can think of a million different ways I can improve my walk with Jesus, but that feels daunting and unhelpful. I need to talk to Jesus. I need to say my fears to Him. I need to trust Him with all that I’m fearful may happen and leave it at the foot of the cross knowing He will never leave me. That’s my first “one” thing. We are to “press on” through each moment, trusting that God will meet us in all of them. No, it’s not going to be easy and I’m going to worry that my words have far more power than they should, but I have His word that He wants me to bring it all to Him, so I will obey. My prayer is that my “one thing” will carry me to do many more that keep me pressing on to be closer to my Savior. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who helps us to make these hard changes! May we all press on to Jesus in 2025 and all the years after it.
Happy New Year!
