Can you believe it’s already 2017? It seems like 2016 just began. Time passes quickly! Many people use the start of a new year as a chance to make some New Year’s resolutions. They could use some changes in their lives, and so they say: on January 1, everything will change for me. Well, making change is often a little harder than just “resolving” something, but it’s a good start. We always have the opportunity to change. 

The first step in making resolutions is noticing something needs to change. If we don’t take a moment to reflect on who we are and what we are doing in our lives, we will never see that part of our lives may be unhealthy. This is especially true in our spiritual lives. We might be so busy volunteering or teaching Sunday school or going to events that we don’t take the time to really evaluate how well we are following Christ.

In Lamentations, it says “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.” Returning to the Lord means that we need to stop, look around, and see that we’ve wandered away, perhaps without intending to. The Lord always welcomes us back, but we need to make the choice to return to Him. We need to resolve to be different. Once we have, we can make a difference in our world for Christ. When we make changes in our lives, others can see that change is possible for them too.This is Luis Palau.