It’s New Year’s Day by the Gregorian Calendar, January 1. This is the time when many across the globe consider making what we call New Year Resolutions – decisions about what we ‘resolve’ to change in our behavior, whether that means to start doing certain things, stop doing certain things, do certain things differently, or all of the above. Many view January 1 as a day to ‘turn over a new leaf.’

If you’re considering what resolutions to make, my encouragement to you this New Year’s Day is the same encouragement I give to myself at various times throughout the year – that any resolution worth making at any time should be aimed at aligning our behavior more closely with God’s expressed will. And guess what?  Firstly, it’s not hard to know His will for our behavior; and secondly, God will help us to stick to our resolutions if we truly seek His help.

Here are some of what God loves, and would love us to pattern in our own behaviour.

GIVING.  2 Corinthians 9:7 – “God loves a cheerful giver.” So let us resolve to be cheerful givers. From what God blesses us with, let us resolve to cheerfully return His due toward the work of His Kingdom, and also to cheerfully contribute toward meeting the needs of others.

JUSTICE.  Psalm 37:28 – “The Lord loves justice…”  Isaiah 61:8 – “I, the Lord, love justice…” And He doesn’t just say He loves justice but He demonstrates that love by His actions. Psalm 103:6 – “The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” (Psalm 103:6 makes a neat mini-study, from the Hebrew derivatives and the rendering of different reliable translations, but that’s for another blog.) Be that as it may, God spells out His will for us through Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” So, for our part now, let us resolve to love justice and to act on that love in defence of the oppressed.

LOVE OF MANKIND.   John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (My underlining shows that this verse speaks of God’s great love for all mankind, not ‘the world’ system, as other Scriptures clarify[1]. Also, I’m using the Greek root word ‘agape’ throughout this paragraph to differentiate this love from the simply romantic or familial or friendly or sentimental emotions that are commonly called ‘love’ even when not self-less. To adapt a definition from Christianity.com, “Agape love is unconcerned with the self and concerned with the greatest good of another. Agape isn’t born just out of emotions, feelings, familiarity, or attraction, but [originates] from the [Divine] will and [is ‘actioned’] as a choice. Agape requires faithfulness, commitment, and sacrifice without expecting anything in return.”)  God’s will for us with regard to agape is crystal clear in 1 John 3.  Verse 23 – “Now this is His commandment—that we should believe in the name of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), and love (agape) one another, just as He commanded us.” Verse 11 – “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning—we should love (agape) one another.”  1 John 4:7 – “Let us love (agape) one another, for (agape) love is from God,” and verse 11 – “If God so loved us, we also ought to love (agape) one another.” Now the final word for us, in terms of making and ‘actioning’ a new resolution, is in 1 John 3:18 – “Let us not love (just) with word or talk, but (also) in deed(s) and truth!” As we embark on 2021, let’s resolve to do the actions that demonstrate the love we say that we have for our fellowmen!

LOVE FOR ISRAEL & JERUSALEM.   Deuteronomy 7:8 – “Because of His love for you (addressing Israel) and His keeping the oath He swore to your fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), Adonai (The LORD) brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”  Psalm 87:2 – “Adonai loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”  Zechariah 1:14 – “Then the angel speaking to me said, ‘Cry out saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot (The Lord of Hosts), “I am exceedingly zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.’” In case we should think this is just a personal ‘thing’ with God that He does not necessarily wish us to emulate, see Psalm 122:6 – “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem —‘May those who love you be at peace!’” So in 2021, even if the whole world seems to turn against Israel, against Jerusalem, against Zion, let us resolve to swim against that tide with great splashing, leading others along in our wake, to love (agape) Israel, its people, and Jerusalem as God does.

LOVE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE RIGHTEOUS.  Psalm 33:5 – “He (The LORD) loves righteousness and justice.”  Psalm 146:8b – “The Lord loves the righteous.” Loving righteousness (actions defined by the word of God as being right) and the righteous (the persons who do and defend those actions based on God’s say-so) is not in vogue nowadays. Because the proponents of humanism (with its man-made standards of right and wrong) have been more vociferous than the proponents of Biblical righteousness, they have captured much public listenership and favour. However, let the remnant who still honour the word of God above every contrary word not only stand up in 2021 to be counted, but also proclaim their righteous messages loudly enough to be heard above the contrary din. And let us resolve to publicly declare and show our love for the righteous message, the messengers of righteousness, and the doers of righteous actions. (For clarity on ‘the righteous’ see Romans 3:22, and 2 Corinthians 5:21b)

LOVE OF CORRECTION AND THOSE NEEDING CORRECTION.  Proverbs 3:12 – “Adonai (The LORD) loves those He reproves, even as a father, the son in whom he delights.” Hebrews 12:6 – “Adonai (The LORD) disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts.” Even as we carry over to 2021 hard lessons learned from 2020 experiences, let us resolve to (1) remain open to Divine correction through God’s word and the delegates through whom the Holy Spirit might minister them to us, and (2) maintain a heart of agape love toward others who need correction. God loves them and so must we. In the case of those who don’t see their need for correction, and to whom it makes no sense to offer Biblical correction, let God see us lovingly snatching them from peril through intercessory prayer this year, until we can do or say more.

With help from the writer at https://shepherdofhope.org/six-things-the-lord-loves/, I have listed six things that the LORD positively loves, for our consideration as we make resolutions (now or on any other ‘today’ during the year). Tomorrow I will invite you to consider some things that the LORD positively abhors – for your consideration of what to avoid as we venture into resolutions for the rest of 2021. God bless you!

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[1]  See 1 John 2:15-17