Happy New Year, guys! I’m thankful for each person following this blog and I hope God uses the posts in 2015 to bring you encouragement and challenge. As we move through Psalms, today we are on psalm 38. In this psalm, David makes it abundantly clear that he is intensely burdened by his sin.

I’m sure that starting a new year, none of us want to be burdened. We want freedom, right? We want to be completely unhindered as we run in the path that God designed us to run in. So, how do we become aerodynamic like that? How do we remove everything that will hinder or burden our flight through 2015? Repentance.

Repentance is a word that means transformation. It’s not about guilt and condemnation, it’s about liberation. Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Repentance is about throwing off the weights and preparing yourself to ascend to heights you never dreamed possible.

What kinds of things weigh you down? I’ll give you some of mine…..worry, fear, anxiety, pride and selfish ambition. The list could go on, but these are some of the ones that I actively deal with. For 2015, I’m not super concerned about having resolutions. Behind any performance issues I have in the key areas of my life, sin is lurking in the darkness. My success in this new year is inextricably linked to true, biblical repentance. Repentance that ushers in life change and transformation from the inside out. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” If you really want God’s will for your life this year, this passage is saying you can get it if you go after it with everything you have. If you’re going to make a resolution, this should be it.