My amazing editor gets up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to proofread the Daily Article, post it on our website, and distribute it via email. To give her today’s holiday off, we finished this article yesterday. As a result, I’m predicting what you now know to be true (or not):

• Roughly one million people packed into New York City’s Times Square last night to watch a crystal ball drop from One Times Square as midnight approached.
• The ball was new this year, adorned with 5,280 crystals and weighing about 12,350 pounds.
• For the first time ever, it was relit and dropped again at approximately 12:04 am E.T. in anticipation of America’s 250^th anniversary on July 4, 2026. The ball will drop a third time on the eve of the Fourth of July for the same reason.

Door County in Wisconsin dropped a giant cherry into a crowd of people, while Amelia Island, Florida, dropped a giant shrimp and Boise, Idaho, dropped a giant glowing potato at the state’s capitol. But I think beginning the new year with a lighted ball descending to a waiting crowd is especially appropriate. Consider these facts:

• It’s dark at midnight, which makes the light more necessary, obvious, and powerful.
• The light descends from the heavens above to the earth below.
• Its light is available to all but experienced only by those who seek to do so.
• It was anticipated when I wrote about it, but it became a reality at the proper moment—not a minute too soon or too late.

If you were reading about such light on Christmas rather than New Year’s Day, would any of this seem familiar?

“It is you who light my lamp”

Simeon called the baby Jesus “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). John’s Gospel says of God’s Son, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).

When we trusted him as our Lord, our Father “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). In this kingdom, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

Accordingly, we are called to “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (v. 7).

Martin Luther warned: “The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands.” Conversely, David prayed, “It is you who light my lamp; the Lᴏʀᴅ my God lightens my darkness” (Psalm 18:28).

When we choose the former, we experience the latter.

Six practical resolutions

To walk in the transforming light of Christ this year, we must determine to do so. This is the New Year’s Resolution of all resolutions.

Jesus honors the free will with which we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), so he will not force us to walk in his light. To experience his transforming grace, let’s make six practical resolutions within the Resolution:

1: Start each day in the light of Christ. We cannot walk in the light unless we are in the light. Begin every day with Jesus in worship, prayer, and Bible study as you connect your heart with his and submit your life and day to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

2: Stay in the light through the day. When the enemy tempts you with darkness, leverage his evil for good by turning instantly to the Spirit for his guidance and power. If you step out of the light, confess your sin immediately, claim your Father’s forgiveness, and return to the light.

3: Focus on the present. We cannot walk the next mile while walking this mile. All of God there is, is in this moment.

4: Give thanks to God for all that is good. After her horrific captivity, a freed Israeli hostage named Emily Damari wrote:

I have … learned to value everything I do in my life. I open the fridge: I say thank you. I drink cold water: I say thank you. I am thankful for everything—big things and little things. Gratitude is very important. I am grateful that I have the privilege of being thankful.

5: Trust God to redeem all that is hard. Matthew Henry noted: “Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” As the Roman philosopher Seneca observed, “You learn to know a pilot in a storm.”

6: Make Christlikeness your goal. Jane Goodall wrote: “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” You can make no greater difference in the world than manifesting the light of Christ in our dark culture.

“You can do all that God has called you to”

If we make these daily resolutions, we will fulfill our life Resolution. We will “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7). His Spirit will transfuse our minds and hearts with the light of Christ. His light will shine through our words and works and defeat the darkness wherever we go.

And neither our lives nor our world will ever be the same.

As you begin your year, I want to highly recommend First15, our ministry’s daily devotional resource. A recent article reminded us:

You can do all that God has called you to. Whether it be victory over sin, engaging in difficult confession, walking biblically rather than according to the world, seeking unity and fellowship with those that bother you, or simply seeking God with all your heart, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you today if you are willing to receive.

What next step into his light has God “called you to” today?

Quote for the day:

“Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because he loves us.” —Tullian Tchividjian

Our latest website resources:

• What are God’s New Year’s resolutions?
• 2025 recap: Most influential people, biggest stories, biggest flops, & spiritual highlights
• Do miracles still happen? A podcast interview with Lee Strobel
• A review of Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Miracles”
• What does Christmas have to do with bioethics?

 

Denison Forum