It’s the time of year when people want to start over – especially with their attempts to lose weight. But the promise of being a new you because a new year has started really isn’t logical. All the beliefs and emotional habits that motivated your overeating on December 31st did not suddenly disappear on January 1st.
HOWEVER, according to the Bible, you really do become a new you every January 1st – in fact, every day!
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Cor. 4:16, NIV
So, if you are a believer in Christ, you really are different on January 1st than you were the day before.
What’s interesting is that this does not depend on whether you feel new or not. This is what God does and we know it because he’s made it clear in his Word.
But why don’t you ACT in a new way every day?
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Rom. 12:2a, NIV
Even though we are “new creations in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17), the process of sanctification (becoming more and more like Christ) happens through the gradual changing of, primarily, our beliefs. We change as our minds are changed.
…be made new in the attitude of your minds. Eph. 4:23
So, if you really want to start afresh, start with your thinking, not with a new diet plan or trying harder to conform to your old diet. Ask the Lord what the beliefs are that motivate your overeating and cause you to return over and over again to a large size.
And keep your eyes on Jesus:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18, NAS
In Christ, you can and do experience being a new you every day of the year!