New Year, New You?

• December
• 27

6:00 am Christian living, Magazines

Waiting at the supermarket checkout, I glanced over some of the popular women’s magazines on offer.

At this time of year they all have a familiar ring: New Year Resolutions, new beginnings, out with the old and in with the new – whether it be losing those kilos that crept on over Christmas, changing your hairstyle, updating your clothes or home décor with a few well-chosen accessories.  Learn that foreign language! Start some serious saving! Change your job or get that promotion!  Bigger (well maybe not our figures!), better, brighter … 

The world today is obsessed with self-improvement, creating a huge industry (and millions of dollars) for the so-called “gurus” of the business.  There are magazine articles, books, life coaches, TV shows, classes and seminars all promising to help you achieve your goals, manage your time, improve your self-esteem, strengthen your relationships, coordinate your wardrobe, kick your bad habits, lose that weight and get the body you’ve only dreamed about.  No matter what the target, they all have one thing in common: the claim that THIS is the sure-fire, never-fail way to get results, and have a great life!

The irony is that if you were to take a peek inside the self-proclaimed gurus’ lives, you’d most likely find that they too have their problems and failures.  Yes, they may have the secret to building a big bucks business – but what they don’t tell you is that it came at the cost of their marriage.  This week’s sensation might have lost fifty kilos and is now on telly saying that she wants to share her secrets – but first you’ll have to buy her book or pay to come to her conference! Meanwhile, her frustration and irritation with her strict and joyless diet has dramatically changed her personality and she finds that she is always yelling at her kids …

Sadly, people flock eagerly to the self-help gurus, when all too often it’s a case of the blind leading the blind!

On your quest for self-improvement, why not turn to the One who made you?  At last, HERE is Somebody who’s got it altogether!  He knows your every hurt and pain, every dream and desire.  Who better to guide you and be your own personal life-coach?  He’ll help you become all you can be, but without sacrificing other areas of your life.  God alone can give you true perspective and show you how to keep ALL the parts of your life in balance, while becoming the very best person that you can be.

Psalm 146:3-4 – Don’t put your life in the hand of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life.  Mere humans don’t have what it takes … instead, get help from God … and know real blessing!