You might think that it is too early to talk about welcoming the New Year 2012. If, however, you are serious about living victoriously in the New Year 2012, you might even say that I should have written this pastoral letter earlier. The reason for that is we need time to reflect on the past year, to make resolutions, to plan and to make the necessary preparations before we can live a victorious new year. If you do not make adequate preparations, you can be sure that the first few days of the New Year will be wasted. You can just imagine how discouraging it can be at the thought that just when the New Year starts, you have failed. If you hope to experience victory in the coming year, you will need to do several things.

The Value of a Year is Infinite

First, you will waste much time and resources if you do not have clear objectives for the New Year. You will be like a soldier who fires aimlessly a stream of bullets from a machine gun because he does not know the where his enemies are. Do you think that he will hit his target? He may be able to hit one enemy soldier. The rest of his bullets, however, are stray ones—they are wasted. If, however, you know what your objective in life is, you will unite your money, time and various abilities. Then, like a bullet, they will be aimed at one target. It will be strange if you do not shatter to pieces the target. Hence, you must have a clear objective for the new year. Second, what are worthy objectives? A year is one year of your life. After 2012 has passed, you are one year older and your life is one year shorter. You are also one year closer to your grave.

My point is: Whatever you achieve in a year, you used one year of your life to exchange for it. If you earned a condominium, you used one year of your life to buy it. Is it worth it? If the condominium cost $1miliion, and because you used one year of your life to buy it, you are saying that your life is worth $1million. But can your life be measured by dollars and cents? Even a day’s life is of infinite worth! Just as you will not use $100 to buy something of $1 worth, your life which has infinite value must also be used to exchange for something that has infinite worth. Only the things that can be brought into heaven have infinite worth

What Has Infinite Worth?

First, God desires that we become “mature in Christ” (Col 1:28). He desires that we become like Jesus, full of kindness, wisdom, holiness, glory, etc. Hence, in the New Year, you must do something to help you grow spiritually. It could be attending worship service faithfully and not allowing anything to hinder you. It could also be to finish reading the Bible or a portion of it (e.g. the New Testament). You can also consider praying for the church pastor or leaders weekly. Whatever it is, you must do something that will help your spiritual life improve by a quantum leap.

Second, bring lost souls to the Lord. Before Jesus returned to heaven, he commanded His disciples “to go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). Jesus died for the same reason. God desires lost souls to receive the precious salvation. How can you not preach the gospel and bring lost souls to the Lord?! I urge you to identify three friends or relatives, and pray for their salvation daily and lead them to the Lord.

Third, the Lord wants us to love Him sincerely. Who loves the Lord? The Lord says: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them, is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by My Father and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:21). One who loves the Lord is not seen from how much he does. Instead, his love for the Lord is made evident when he is willing to do the Lord’s will even when he has to pay a heavy price to fulfill it. If you love the Lord, fulfill His desires in the New Year. Do not retract from doing His will just because there is a price to pay because “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him” (Heb 6:10). Perhaps the Lord wants you to forgive someone or He may want you to serve Him in a particular ministry. Whatever it is, if you know that is what the Lord wants you to do, do it courageously with the Lord’s strength. Resolve to fulfill the Lord’s will in the New Year.