What Will We Make Of 2018?

“We are at the beginning of a new year, 2018. We should ask ourselves whatever became of the prefix A.D., for Anno Domini meaning In the Year of Our Lord, which for many centuries introduced the number of each year in the predominantly Christian Western world. In ancient Mediterranean civilizations, it was common to number years from the beginning of the Olympic Games, from the beginning of a king’s reign, from the founding of Rome, from the conquest of Rome, or from some other major event that was recognized across national and cultural boundaries. Christ’s followers recognized him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all authority in heaven and on earth (Revelation 17:14; 19:16; Matthew 28:18). Since he was more important than any other person, and his birth, life, death, and resurrection were more important than any other event in history, it followed that there could be no better basis for numbering our years. Eventually, the calendar was made to reflect this. It doesn’t matter that the calculated Calendar Year One might be about four to six years off from the actual year of Jesus’s birth. What matters is that our traditional Western calendar, counting from what was believed to be the year of Jesus’s birth, reflects a recognition that Jesus Christ was, and is, the central figure in all of history.

As society has become more secularized and public reminders of Christianity have become marginalized, we should make a conscious effort to think of 2018 as the Year of Our Lord. It is his year whether we recognize it or not, and this is true of every year. But if we do acknowledge Christ’s place in history and in our own lives, then we will find ourselves with a new ability to focus on the purpose that God has given us, and the rest of life will begin to move into its proper perspective. This is true newness, not just of the new calendar year but of the new heart of man: ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come’ (II Corinthians 5:17)(ESV).

The beginning of a new year gives us a symbolic opportunity to mark the passing of the old and to look ahead. But the renewal of one’s soul and the growth of one’s character do not result from a mere calendar change. They require acknowledgment and disavowal of our waywardness, followed by a return to God, accepting his grace in Christ. It requires each of us to make a decision about how to live.

This year, starting today, we can decide to do something new. Whether we’ve ever done it before or not, we can set ourselves to becoming what God intended us to be. If we follow the teachings of Christ, if we embody the character qualities, the virtues, that he laid out for us, and if we make the Kingdom of God our primary goal, our telos, then with the aid of the Holy Spirit we will move toward fulfilling the nature that God created in us. We will flourish. We will be happy. Because we will have learned that, contrary to Aristotle’s view, happiness itself is not the goal but is a side effect of the goal that God set for each of us.”

~Robert Higgason