Have you made any New Year’s resolutions? I like making New Year’s resolutions because they provide a reset, and that’s a good thing. This year my New Year’s resolution is a simple one, but one that I am going to try to remind myself of every day.
This resolution came to me partly because of the Christmas holidays. Over the Christmas holidays, I enjoyed life. What I enjoyed about life was not the rich food or watching football or movies but spending quality time with people I loved. I got to have long, person to person conversations without any agenda. I got to slow down and not be bombarded by technology, but instead reflect on life. I got to take long walks, enjoy nature. I got to attend to others’ needs and love them deeply, and I got to attend to my own very human needs. What the Christmas holidays helped me to do was to become more human! It’s sad, but our fast-paced, technology-saturated world is making us more anxious, more aggressive, more fearful, less human. The contrast between the enjoyable Christmas holiday and “real life” made me want to resist! And thus, my resolution: I resolve to be more human this year!
I think that’s what God wants too—for us to become more human. After all, He created us, didn’t he? He knew what he was doing when he created us as humans. He made this entire world for our enjoyment so that we can become fully human. In fact, the One who created us is the “prototype” for what it means to be human, and in him, we come to know and to enjoy being humans, made in the image of God. The One who created us is God the Son, who had in mind all he intended us to become before he created anything in this universe: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn before all creation. For by him all things were created; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15-17).
One of the best phrases I have come across in the last few years is this: there is no “humanlessness in God,” meaning that God is not something “up there where people are not.” Rather, God is a “with us God,” who knows exactly what is best for us, and who guides us daily (if we stop and listen) how to become fully human. Or as Jesus himself said: “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full!” (John 10:10).
Think for yourself how this resolution of becoming more human might work out for you this year, starting with today. What would it mean for you to become more human, to treat yourself with dignity and worth and to treat others with dignity and worth? Here are just a few things that have come to my mind that I intend to make priorities:
See every person as a human being and treat everyone with dignity and worth. Our civilization cannot survive without the basic Judeo-Christian belief that every last human being is made in the image of God and deserves respect, even those with whom we may disagree. So I resolve to treat everyone, from the President of the United States down to the janitor who cleans our bathroom at work, with kindness, dignity, and grace.
Treat myself with dignity and realize I am human. The word human is related to the words humus (organic, earthy) and humble. Part of that means I need to realize my limitations. I am not superman, and Jesus said life is best lived with the attitude of a child. A child understands their limitations, but a child also believes she is special, and she is special because her parents love her for who she is. So, I resolve to live with more childlike dependence on God our Father, who loves me for who he created me to be, and who will provide for me everything I need.
Live life more slowly and purposefully. God blessed us with the concept of Sabbath so we would get off the treadmill and get into God’s rhythms. Jesus was busy, but never in a hurry. “It is only the person who lives slowly who gets more out of life. It is only the person who eats and drinks slowly who eats and drinks with enjoyment. Those who are assured of eternal life have plenty of time. Then we linger in the moment and lay ourselves open to the intensive experience of life.”[1]
Unplug more. I will have to be intentional about technology. If I don’t, it will dehumanize me. Meg Mott, professor of politics at Marlboro College, writes that “data” has replaced wisdom in our world and particularly among young people: “This lack of uninterrupted introspection creates a very human problem: the anxiety of not knowing oneself. The more the culture equates with data and social life with social media, the less time is spent on the path of wisdom, a path that always requires a good quotient of self-awareness. I am of the mind that a lot of the anxiety we see in college students is the agony of not having a clue about who they are.” [2]
Get out in nature. God created this beautiful world for a purpose—so that we might fully enjoy it. Spending some time in nature everyday provides such tremendous health benefits and helps slow us down and “unplug” us. So, I resolve to spend more time in nature this year.
Be kind. Simple kindness can change any situation we are in, whether in our families, at work, at school, on social media. Being kind means we realize that others are made in the image of God and deserve respect. Kindness is basic to being human. So, I resolve to just be more kind everyday.
Smile and share. Jesus said it is better to give than to receive, meaning we actually are the ones who benefit when we learn to share, to give, to invest in people, to love. We are not human without other humans, and so I resolve to smile at others everyday and share more.
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the young church in Colossae, hit the nail on the head when he said that Jesus is our prototype, the “human” that God intends for us to become. Paul gave the church some practical “resolutions” in helping us become more human (more Christ-like) in Colossians 3:12-17:
“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
[1] Jurgen Moltmann, God for a Secular Society: The Public Relevance of Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 90.
[2]Quoted in Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie, “Concerns about the future of people’s well-being,” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/04/17/the-future-of-well-being-in-a-tech-saturated-world/.