A new year that matters

Last Sunday I asked our small church audience to write down three desires they would like to see fulfilled during the coming year: a personal one, one about our church, and finally, one about the society in general.
After that, we went through several bible passages that show us a few of the things we should actually long for as believers: to crave His word, to grow in wisdom, to be transformed in His image, to seek sanctification, to forgive, and finally, I asked them if they wanted to change any of their desires to align them with God’s word and will. A few did, and we all eventually prayed for each of them in groups.

I didn’t get to know all the desires that were shared, but I did ask what they hoped for our church. One of the main requests was for a hall where we could meet more freely, which is a fair prayer… but the most spiritual and surprising ones came from the kids that were part of my group: one asked for more unity in Christ among ourselves, another one for us to get closer to God.

We tend to think that children have little practical cravings, or even selfish ones, while we, the adults, are the ones who know it better and understand God’s will. Well, not always.
My impression is that we are sometimes so focused on our daily struggles, that we tend to forget that spiritual growth and becoming more Christlike persons is the actual goal. As a matter of fact, those struggles are there precisely for us to grow.
The Apostle James says it clearly in his letter: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

We know this verse very well, but we (for sure I) struggle with it.
Perhaps our problem is that we tend to judge success by this world standards, even within the church.
So a famous preacher is a successful one, a large church is always a blessed church, big numbers in missions automatically mean that I’m great at ministry. Sometimes yes, other times no.

One of the encouraging simple words I like to share with pastors and missionaries alike, is that the Lord doesn’t ask us to be successful, but to be faithful (Mt.25:23). Every time I say that, I see a sigh of relief in the other person. Why? Maybe because we are so used to judging ourselves and others by the wrong standard of success, that we forget that serving the Lord should be done in freedom, leaving to Christ our practical and relational burdens, while concentrating on what really counts, our personal transformation in Christ.
Being faithful in Christ feels “lighter” than trying to solve our messy lives, or to achieve goals that the Lord never asked us to obtain.

May the Lord lead us all, during 2025, to concentrate on what matters, free from our self-inflicted weights and commitments that don’t necessarily glorify Him, and to rejoice in the “eternal glory” we already received, which is much more important than our “light and momentary troubles” (2 Cor.4:17).

Francesco Abortivi – ACCI International Director