If you want good luck in the new year, consider these new year’s traditions:

• In Brazil, jump over seven waves while surfing.
• In the Philippines, wear clothing with polka dots. (I’m out of luck here.)
• In Greece, hang onions outside your door.
• In Puerto Rico, throw a bucket of water out your window.
• In Ireland, put mistletoe under your pillow.
• In Canada, go ice fishing.
• In the US, watch the ball drop in New York City’s Times Square.

Speaking of dropping things to bring in the new year: Manhattan, Kansas, dropped a giant apple last night. Not to be outdone, St. George’s, Bermuda, dropped a giant onion, while Boise, Idaho, dropped a giant illuminated potato (of course).

If you step back and look at such strange practices objectively, you’ll admit that they are indeed strange. Why would presumably sane people do such bizarre things?

“A Diet Writer’s Regrets”

One answer is that New Year’s traditions give us a way to feel more in control of what is ultimately uncontrollable—the future. When we do what we know to do, we hope, however naively, that we are doing something to influence the unknowable.

And, of course, millions are making resolutions to begin 2025 as well. Here we believe we are acting in a more practical way, choosing behaviors we can influence to improve our lives and our world. However, only 9 percent of those who make such resolutions keep them through the year.

In this context, an Atlantic headline caught my eye: “A Diet Writer’s Regrets.” The author has written on diet and health for thirty years and struggled mightily with her weight before finally taking weight-loss drugs. Her story shows that resolutions and good intentions often are not enough.

I’m reminded of the story of Baron Munchausen, who tried to pull himself out of a swamp by his own hair. Without solid ground on which to stand, no amount of such effort is enough.

Here’s the good news: “ground” for living our best lives this year is available to each of us. We just have to know where—or to Whom—to look.

“His manhood was of the same clay as our own”

St. Hippolytus of Rome (died AD 236) said regarding the incarnation of Jesus:

We know that his manhood was of the same clay as our own; if this were not so, he would hardly have been a teacher who could expect to be imitated. If he were of a different substance from me, he would surely not have ordered me to do as he did, when by my very nature I am so weak. Such a demand could not be reconciled with his goodness and justice.

No. He wanted us to consider him as no different from ourselves, and so he worked, he was hungry and thirsty, he slept. Without protest he endured his passion, he submitted to death and revealed his resurrection. In all these ways he offered his own manhood as the first fruits of our race to keep us from losing heart when suffering comes our way, and to make us look forward to receiving the same reward as he did, since we know that we possess the same humanity.

Consider the fact that your body is no more flawed and fallen than was the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Your temptations are no different from his (Hebrews 4:15). And the same Spirit who empowered and enabled him to defeat temptation and fulfill his earthly calling resides in us (1 Corinthians 3:16) and can do the same in us.

The difference is that Jesus knew he needed the power of the Spirit (cf. Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38). This is why he so often began his days in prayer (Mark 1:35) and concluded them the same way (cf. Luke 6:12–13). It’s why he spent so much time alone with his Father (Luke 5:16) and why he turned to his word first when temptation struck (cf. Matthew 4:1–11).

It’s why he called on his Father when facing the cross, trusting his will even when it meant his crucified death (Matthew 26:36–46). It’s why his last words before he died were, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).

It’s why he taught us to “ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7, my literal translation from the Greek). It’s why we are told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), staying connected with our Lord as we walk in his presence each day.

The best way to begin the year

I am convinced that cultural Christianity is the greatest threat to the abundant, victorious life Jesus intends for us (cf. Romans 8:37). It is the amputated “faith” that separates Sunday from Monday and the spiritual from the secular, the pridefulness that makes God a means to our ends, the self-reliance that calls on him only when we have nowhere else to turn.

In response, I pray these words from the Anglican Book of Prayer each morning because I need their reminder:

To my humble supplication
Lord, give ear and acceptation.
Save thy servant, that hath none
Help nor hope but thee alone (my emphasis).

I know of no better way to begin this day and this year than with such “humble supplication” before our omnipotent Lord.

Do you?

Wednesday news to know:

• US to hold national day of mourning for Jimmy Carter
• Jimmy Carter made eradicating Guinea worm disease a top mission
• Holding the “title of citizen,” Carter carved a new mold for ex-presidents
• 2 survivors recovering as South Korean officials probe Jeju Air plane crash
• On this day in 1863: Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God is not just one thing we add to the mix called life. He wants an invitation from us to permeate everything in every part of us.” —Francis Chan

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“He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away” (Micah 4:3)

As a year filled with conflicts draws to a close, our hearts yearn for lasting peace in the new year. To this end, let’s look to the unlikeliest of places for the hope we need.

In the Middle East, 2024 began with Hamas’s leadership seemingly entrenched as the conflict in Gaza continued. Hezbollah bristled with tens of thousands of missiles capable of devastating all of Israel. Iran was escalating its seven-front assault on the Jewish state through its proxies surrounding the Jewish state.

So much changed across the year: Israel assassinated the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, neutered the latter’s missile threat against the nation, defeated two air attacks from Iran, and dismantled Iran’s air defenses in response. Iran’s hardline president was killed in a helicopter crash and replaced by a more moderate leader. Rebels toppled the Assad regime in Syria, further weaking Iran’s “Shiite crescent” across the region.

There was a time when many, including former President Jimmy Carter, believed Hamas to be a legitimate political player in the quest for peace in the Middle East. Mr. Carter also called Israel an “apartheid state” and spoke for many in opposing its posture with the Palestinians. At the same time, as his former speechwriter James Fallows noted following his death last Sunday, “Jimmy Carter did more than anyone else, before or since, to bring peace to the Middle East, with his Camp David accords.”

Mr. Fallows may be correct in political terms. But Scripture tells of another leader who resolved a conflict in the Middle East in a way that points to lasting peace in 2025 and beyond.

Three responses to Sennacherib

2 Chronicles 32 begins: “Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself” (v. 1). Judah’s King Hezekiah responded in three ways.

First, he did what he could.

Jerusalem’s greatest military weakness was its water supply, which came from the Gihon Spring outside the city. The Assyrians could block, divert, or even poison it, which would force the Jews to surrender.

So the king created a massive tunnel to bring water from the spring into the Pool of Siloam inside the city, then he camouflaged the source so the Assyrians could not use or pollute it (vv. 2–4, 30). This tunnel was 1,750 feet long, the length of six football fields. It was completed in 701 BC but still functions today; I have walked through it several times over the years. In addition, the king strengthened the fortifications of the city and “made weapons and shields in abundance” (v. 5).

Second, he encouraged his people to trust in God.

His message to them: “Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lᴏʀᴅ our God, to help us and to fight our battles” (vv. 7–8).

Third, he turned to God himself.

When the Assyrians threatened the city (vv. 9–19), “Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven” (v. 20). “Prayed” translates a typical Hebrew word for interceding; “cried” adds a deeply personal note, meaning to “call out in agony.”

Here was the astounding result: “The Lᴏʀᴅ sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land” (v. 21a). When he then “came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword” (v. 21b).

In this way, “the Lᴏʀᴅ saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side” (v. 22).

“Righteousness exalts a nation”

I cannot know what conflicts you are facing in the days ahead. But I know this: Hezekiah’s story is in Scripture so it can become our story.

Because God assures us that “I the Lᴏʀᴅ do not change” (Malachi 3:6), we can know that he possesses the same power, knowledge, and compassion that led to a miraculous peace in the Middle East twenty-seven centuries ago. If we are not seeing his hand similarly at work in our world today, could it be that we are not looking closely enough?

Perhaps, for example, we should view events involving Israel over this last year through the lens of providence.

Theologians differ over whether the modern State of Israel should be seen as equivalent to the Israel of Scripture. But we know that God still judges the kinds of atrocities perpetrated by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and the terrorism-sponsoring state of Iran. His word assures us, “He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away” (Micah 4:3). All he has ever done, he can still do today.

And we know that what is true of others is true of America as well: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). The prophet said to God, “The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste” (Isaiah 60:12). Accordingly, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 33:12).

So name your Sennacherib, do what you can in response, and encourage those who are in the battle with you to trust God for his best. Then turn to him yourself, asking him to do what only he can. And pray urgently for our nation to do the same.

The best way to prepare for the new year is to make Jesus our king by submitting our lives fully to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) as we live biblically and act redemptively in our world (Matthew 5:13–16). It is then to treat every new year and every new day as if it is our last, knowing that one day we will be right.

Jimmy Carter famously stated,

“We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.”

Will you?

Tuesday news to know:

• Jimmy Carter’s extraordinary life in pictures, from peanut farm to White House to Nobel Prize
• Jimmy Carter will have funeral services in Plains, Ga., Atlanta and Washington, DC
• US announces $5.9 billion in military and budget aid to Ukraine
• “Mayday, Mayday”: the final six minutes before the deadly South Korean plane crash
• On this day in 1999: Putin becomes acting president of Russia, following Yeltsin’s resignation

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God works all things together for your good. If the waves roll against you, it only speeds your ship towards the port.” —Charles Spurgeon

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When you read the words, “All I want for Christmas is you,” does the song by that title immediately spring to mind? If so, you’re not alone: the song by Mariah Carey, recorded in 1994, is one of the best-selling Christmas songs of all time. And it earns her an estimated $3.5 to $4 million every year.

Why is it so successful? The answer in part is Carey’s amazing vocals. But another is the theme of the song. In an interview with Good Morning America, she recounted its origin: “I was working on it by myself . . . on this little Casio keyboard and writing down words and thinking about, ‘What do I think of at Christmas? What do I love? What do I want? What do I dream of?’” She added, “My goal was to do something timeless, so it didn’t feel like the ’90s, which is when I wrote it.”

Her lyrics, whimsical as they are, do express something timeless: “Santa Claus won’t make me happy with a toy on Christmas Day,” because “all I want for Christmas is you.”

“The Western world has turned officially crazy”

We are created to want more than the “toys” this world can offer, because we were created for the eternal world to come. That’s why possessions must not possess us, since nothing we can make can fill the “God-shaped emptiness” with which God made us.

Sinners can no more save themselves from sin than drowning people can save themselves from drowning. And our fallen world is far too unpredictable to be a reliable source of stability.

There was a day when people viewed the future as a time of progress and even glamour. Radios and record players brought music into homes that could not afford pianos. Movies offered inexpensive theater tickets. The Model T and its successors afforded ordinary people the kind of personal transportation once reserved for the coach-owning elite. The material abundance of the post-war era brought new suburban homes, televisions, and kitchen gadgets.

That was then, this is now.

Looking ahead to 2050, Pew Research Center found that:

• 66 percent of Americans think the US economy will be weaker.
• 71 percent say the US will be less important in the world.
• 77 percent believe our country will be more divided politically.
• 81 percent say the gap between the rich and the poor will grow.

From avian flu in California to drought in the Southwest to declining American air superiority in the world to an emerging military threat in Pakistan, today’s news offers no shortage of reasons to fear the future. As one geopolitical analyst wrote recently, “One would be forgiven” for thinking “the Western world has turned officially crazy.”

“A pessimist is never disappointed”

We fear the future in large part because it is, by definition, unknown and unknowable, and we fear what we do not know. Why?

In part, such fear is a primordial survival response—if we anticipate the worst, we think we are better prepared if it happens. “A pessimist is never disappointed,” as the saying goes.

But such fear also says something about our view of God. Most of us believe that he is so omniscient that he knows the future and so omnipotent that he can do what he chooses to do. We’re just not always sure his choices for us are what we would choose for ourselves.

The ancient Greeks and Romans depicted Zeus and their other gods as capricious and unkind, reflecting the world these deities supposedly ruled. Our world is just as fallen and chaotic as theirs, which leads us to wonder if our God is just as capricious and unkind.

This is why Christmas is such good and essential news.

“Perfect love expels all fear”

The next time you wonder if God loves you, remember his decision to send his Son to die for you. Remember his Son’s decision to give up his glory in heaven to take on human flesh so he could die for human sins. Remember the humility of his birth, illustrating the unconditional compassion of his grace.

Scripture declares, “Perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (1 John 4:18 NLT). A. W. Tozer commented:

“Love casts out fear, for when we know we are loved, we are not afraid. Whoever has God’s perfect love, fear is gone out of the universe for him.”

In this light, consider some wisdom from the esteemed Wall Street Journal opinion writer Peggy Noonan. On her recent book tour, she was asked, “Are you an optimist?” Her response:

Optimists tend to think the right, nice thing will happen, and I don’t necessarily. But I have faith and I have hope. Life takes guts. Don’t let all the bad news enter you and steal your peace. Keep the large things in your head. Two millennia ago a baby was born and the whole ridiculous story—the virgin, the husband, the stable, the star—is true, and changed the world. Compared to which our current concerns are nothing.

“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take”

The English poet William Cowper, who struggled mightily with depression and despair, nonetheless pointed the way to the hope we need:

Deep in unsearchable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

What “clouds” will you trust to your loving Lord today?

Tuesday news to know:

• Former President Bill Clinton is in the hospital after developing a fever, spokesperson says
• Biden gives life in prison to 37 of 40 federal death row inmates before Trump can resume executions
• House Ethics report says Matt Gaetz paid for sex, possessed drugs
• Man faces murder charges in death of a woman who was lit on fire in New York City subway
• On this day in 1923: President Coolidge lights first national Christmas tree

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The great God not only loves his saints, but he loves to love them.” —Jerry Bridges

Denison Forum