You have a lot of options ahead of you as the new year begins. There are many ideas you could believe, many people you could follow, many paths you could choose. So many reels, shows, or shorts, so many podcasts, so many books or blogs. What to choose? Which way to go? Alice asked, “Which way should I go?” The cat said, “Where do you want to end up?” Alice replied, “It doesn’t really matter.” The cat answered, “Then it doesn’t really matter which way you go.” But where do you want to end up? How will you get there?
In Colossians 2:8, Paul warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” There are all those paths you could travel, vying for your attention, trying to take you captive – philosophy, empty deceit (meaningless lies and false realities), human tradition, the elemental (or base) spirits of the world. None of these things lead you to Jesus. In fact, these things war against your soul and aim to capture you, imprison you, to make you their slave. Don’t go down that road. Paul also warned Timothy in a similar way, “I want you to confront certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith (1 Timothy 1:4-5).” Do not swerve or wander from Jesus.
Jesus said as much in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” You have endless choices and pleasures to follow or get sucked into in 2026, but you won’t find any joy or happiness or satisfaction or reality or meaning outside of Christ. You won’t get to God the Father except through Christ the Son; the Jewish way, the Muslim way, the Hindu or Buddhist or atheist way do not lead to God. You can’t work hard enough, either; you can only know the Father and see Him through the Son, Jesus. Do you know the Father, the Son, the Spirit? What other way are you following, what “small t” truth do you believe in? Your troubled heart can only be soothed and calmed by Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit.
You have many paths ahead of you. Where do you want to end up? You can be blessed, delighting in the law of the Lord. You can be like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding much fruit in season, not withering. You can be rich and prosperous, in Christ. Or you can walk in the ways of the wicked, along with the sinners and scoffers. They are chaff that the wind blows away. They will not stand in the presence of God, in the congregation of the righteous; the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (from Psalm 1). Resolve this year: Christ alone and Christ over all. Resolve this year: Christ the author and perfecter of my faith. Resolve this year: “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13-14).”