With the New Year coming up this week, most of us are contemplating things to cut out of our lives.  Less junk food, less social media, less smoking, less drama, less debt, etc.

This morning, I feel that God wants to challenge us to think about this differently.  What if instead of considering what to cut out of our lives, we consider what we should add to our lives?

There is something psychological about us that makes it difficult to give up things or to take things out of our lives.  We feel like we are missing out or getting less out of life.  It’s a very negative thing.

However, we are all about adding to our lives.  We’re all about “but wait, there’s more!”  Pay $20 for a small tub of Oxi-Clean?  No way!  Pay $19.95 for a small tub of Oxi-Clean and call in the next 30 minutes to also get a free second tub of Oxi-Clean, a squirt bottle, a bottle of orange clean kitchen cleaner, a super shammy, and free shipping? YES!

Psychologically, we want more, not less.  We don’t want to miss out.  So, when making new year resolutions, consider making commitments that add to your life and not take away from them. 

Less junk food for snacks?  Nope!  We’re going to try out a whole bunch of new natural foods that we’ve never experienced before as snacks.

Less time staring at your phone looking through social media?  Nope!  More time getting together with friends and doing new things together.

Less debt?  Nope!  More wealth and more financial peace by building up some savings.  Or another way of looking at it, paying ourselves first.

It becomes a more positive mindset and attitude toward life in gaining a fuller life and less negative about takin things away from our lives.

It’s the old adage that says, “You are what you eat.”  Another way of looking at this is, “What are we planting into our lives?”  What are we putting into our lives?  After are, who we are is the result of how we think.  That’s what repentance is all about; seeing ourselves and our lives the way that God does and no longer from our own perspective!

That is essentially what this scripture is stating:

Proverbs 23:7 (NASB)

For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

We are what we think.  The thoughts that we plant into our hearts and minds root themselves within the fabric of our character and eventually bear fruit through our behavior. 

This is why the primary message of Jesus, and John the Baptist preparing the way for Him, was to repent.  Repentance is less about what we do and more about how we think.  Once our thoughts are transformed, then our attitudes and actions will change as well.  What thoughts are we planting and cultivating in our lives?

Are we pressing in to seek after God and to hear what He is speaking to us?  Or do we fill our ears and minds with what others are saying through social media and news sources?  Do we value the voice of peacemakers or do we prefer listening to voices that stir up division and strife?  Which choice voice are we allowing to plant seeds of thought into our lives?

This morning, God is beginning to take us on a new journey that will likely continue throughout the course of the upcoming year.  He is challenging us to be planters.

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived:

God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows.

We do not plant watermelon seeds and expect to later reap a harvest of corn.  We do not plant carrot seeds and expect to later reap a harvest of barley.  We should not plant seeds of gossip and expect to later reap a harvest of encouragement.  We should not plant seeds of greed and expect to later reap a harvest of generosity.  We should not plant seeds of violence and expect to later reap a harvest of peace.

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived:

God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows.

Karma is fake knockoff of this Biblical principle, which is why it appears to be true.  We reap what we sow.  We harvest what we plant.  We receive what we give.