A New Year’s Focus That Changes Everything

A new year arrives; a fresh infusion of days sparkling with promise. After the scurry of Christmas, in the sudden lull, we are met with potential. An anything-is-possible stretch of days. The whisper of wonder at what God could do with us, our resources, our hours—which, as it turns out, are really all His.

This gift of life, multiplied by His mercy and love poured out on us in the birth of His Son—which we celebrated a handful of days ago—is both limitless and limited. What will we do with the days that comprise this year? Days that, strung together, form our lives? What will we do with all our Father in heaven allows, both the good and the seemingly not so good?

At the year’s onset, some of us make goals, choose a word of the year, embrace a new lifestyle, or build structure and boundaries into our lives. These actions provide comfort, a compass, or a measure of control. They can be immensely helpful. But there is one thing that rises to the surface, outshining any of these disciplines. It is a spiritual practice that is often overlooked and underestimated. It can be summed up in this verse: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

We may manage to reach our goals, learn a new skill, walk in stride with newly formed habits, be guided by our word of the year, all within our erected structure and boundaries, and feel pretty good about it all. But by the end of 2026, or our very lives, these fistfuls of intention pale if we omit this one thing, this encouragement to, “Seek first the kingdom of God.”

Amid the noise, the running after worldly things or concerns, God’s words beckon to our hearts, drawing us and promising a degree of peace absent in the pursuit of things apart from Him.

Seek me first.

It’s a personal invitation that requires the reprioritization of the important for the most important—a relationship with the Creator of the universe.

It requires that we set aside the peripheral sparkly things for the radiance of sitting in God’s presence. There, within the action of us seeking, a promise is found. God’s gentle assurance whispers, Search for the things of me, my rightness, and all the other pieces, the worries and concerns of enough, fall into place.

Seeking sounds simple, and it should be, but it requires spiritual discipline, obedience, and faith to prioritize God in our lives. Over all the riches, the awards, the success, the safety, the security, we choose God first. Imagine, the God who made heaven and earth and you and me, invites us to sit with Him, to learn the things of Him, to absorb His love and His ways. It’s a miraculous and intimate invitation to live fully wrapped in love made possible by Jesus. It’s not merely a year-long, but life-long adventure.

But what does it look like? How do we seek God and His righteousness? Some practical actions include setting aside time for prayer—not simply asking God for things—but also lingering in His presence, letting His Spirit soak into ours, and listening for His voice. We can renew our minds by reading God’s word daily and meditating on it and applying it to our lives. We can attend gatherings with those who profess to love God to learn and grow in Him.

When we abide, walking closely and intentionally with God, He in turn fulfills His promise by adding to our lives in ways we couldn’t have thought to ask for or imagine. We, too, fulfill His purposes by using all that He has given us to be His hands to a hurting world, to be His love in physical form, and to do our part to usher His kingdom to earth. Our days, and life, turn into opportunities to love like Him.

When that happens, when we prioritize God and the things of Him, what appeared so important begins to pale in comparison. We begin to understand what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Upon that realization, peace and purpose arrive. The noise and detritus settle, and so do our restless, striving souls.

As it turns out, the year ahead is not all about us, our plans, and what we can accomplish and attain. It’s about God, and what He can do with a life given back to Him. A life that choices to seek Him first.

At the arrival of this new year, may we choose to seek God before all else. Before we consider our goals and guiding words, may we sit with our Saviour to savor time with Him, allowing Him to revive, refresh, and renew us. May we present ourselves, in whatever form, before Him so that everything else comes into focus and is enriched with our hand firm in His.