Might I ask you, as you embark on this new year, what's foremost in your mind? What have you set your mind on achieving? What's the preeminent problem in your life that needs solving? What relationship needs nurturing? What's the number one thing on your mind heading into this year?

Prioritisation is a good thing, unless of course we prioritise the wrong things, at which point life tends to head off on a tangent until we find ourselves in a wilderness that we never imagined we'd end up in.

In my younger years, I was so focused on building my IT company and growing my career (all, I told myself, for the benefit of my family) that it tore my family apart. It's the greatest regret of my life. It turns out that you can have seemingly good priorities that aren't the right ones; that'll destroy your life.

Speaking in the context of meeting physical needs, food on the table and a roof over your head, Jesus said this:

Matthew 6:33 What you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need.

Following that terrible experience I just mentioned, I decided to take Jesus at His Word; to live a life with Him at the helm – something I haven't done perfectly, to be sure, but with all my heart.

And even when the prospect of being unable to put food on the table or keep a roof over my head loomed, He remained true to His Word. When you put God first and live as He wants you to live, He meets all your other needs. He just does, because …

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It's funny how caught up we become in the things of this world; the stuff that seems to matter so much today … yet in five years from now will be totally irrelevant to our lives. And, can I say, that's especially true when we're suffering? We end up grasping at straws in the hope that they'll heal the pain and satisfy our needs.

You know how it goes. The year's off to a new beginning, and you still perhaps have some regrets hanging over you from the past. You have your plans for the future, you've set your goals, and here we go … it's off to the races.

Yep, we have our hopes and dreams, and we embark on achieving them as though somehow we're going to live on this earth forever. Reality check – we're not! Perhaps that's why the psalmist prayed to God like this:

Psalm 90:12-15 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. (NRSV)

Tough times happen. Suffering's real. But in all of that, the absolute worst thing we can do is to look for satisfaction from the fleeting things of this world. God, on the other hand, will satisfy you anew each morning with His steadfast love. You'll rejoice and be glad for the rest of your days.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

A good many people on planet Earth today are living sub-optimal lives – terrible lives, many of them – not so much because of their circumstances, but because they feel worthless. I wonder if you know anyone like that.

To be sure, some people live in appalling circumstances – extreme poverty, under the threat of violence, abandoned, completely alone. And in many cases, even the smallest intervention to change those circumstances makes a world of difference. Absolutely!

But at the same time, I've met people living, for instance, in abject poverty or under severe persecution, who have a countenance of peace and joy that passes all understanding. It's written all over their faces, yet it doesn't seem to make sense.

Until you realise that it comes from a place of complete love, complete acceptance, complete assurance that simply isn't available in any pleasurable circumstance that this world could offer.

2 Corinthians 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (NRSV)

Hang on, how does that passage relate to what we're talking about? How is it that Jesus makes all the difference?

As pastor and author, the late Tim Keller once said, "The only identity that isn't fragile—the only one that can truly transform you—is the one you receive, not the one you achieve. In Christ, you are fully known and fully loved."

Once you know how much God loves you through what Jesus did on that Cross for you, once you truly, fully, embrace your new identity in Christ, it changes everything. Because everything has become new!

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Look, I totally get it. Some people are entering this new year tired, exhausted, before it's even begun. And as a result, they end up living half a life instead of a full, rich, abundant one.

Sure, I've gone through times of feeling burnt out, times when I just couldn't give "it" my all. Burnout's a big subject, we'll talk about that another day.

But you see too many people whose zest for life eludes them. It might be in their job – many do the absolute minimum they can get away with. It might be in their family life, retreating to their smartphone screens and not being present for their spouse or their children.

Have you ever been tempted to live half a life instead of a full, rich, abundant life? Just in case, allow this Word from God to breathe a new breath, a new zest, a new hope into your heart.

Ephesians 5:15-17 So be very careful how you live. Live wisely, not like fools. I mean that you should use every opportunity you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So don't be foolish with your lives, but learn what the Lord wants you to do.

As Billy Graham once said, "Time is the capital that God's given us to invest. People are the stocks in which we're to invest our time… the best use of your time is to spend it on something that'll outlast it."

Friend, don't just live well; live wisely. In the end, it's not how much time you had but what you did with it that will echo into eternity.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Planning something new can be both exciting and daunting all at the same time. A young couple having their first child will be excited at the prospect of bringing a new life into this world, while wondering whether they have what it takes to be great parents. Anticipation and uncertainty.

And it's not just when you're planning something big. Simply living life has its twists and turns. You come to a fork in the road, large or small, and instinctively choose which way you'll go. Sometimes you make the right choice, and let's be honest here, sometimes you don't.

As we've seen if you've been able to join me these last few days, making the wrong choice can have devastating consequences. You race ahead in anticipation of something good, and then fall flat on your face. We've all done it. And I don't know about you, but that's something that I don't want to repeat.

Proverbs 16:2-3 People think that whatever they do is right, but the LORD judges their reason for doing it. Turn to the LORD for help in everything you do, and you will be successful.

It's so easy to work ourselves into a place where we believe fervently that what we're doing is right. And yet, too often, our vision's been clouded by emotions, selfishness, and all sorts of wrong motives.

But God sees through all of that. He judges our reason for doing things with unmatched clarity. That's an incredibly powerful encouragement. And it's an incredibly compelling reason to turn to Him for help in everything you do. Everything.

And you will be successful.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Well, here we are. A happy and blessed new year to you. But before we can step into this new year with gusto, with that sense of anticipation of what it'll bring, we need to let go of the regrets of the past. Absolutely, we do!

In early 20th-century China, Empress Dowager Longyu signed the abdication of the last emperor, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule. It was the right thing for peace, but she never recovered. Trapped in the Forbidden City she withdrew, clung to her rituals, and mourned her lost grandeur.

Regret devoured her. She died just months later, broken and forgotten. Here was a woman who could have shaped a new role, a new future, but chose instead to bury herself in the past.

The truth is that regret doesn't knock loudly, it whispers. And if you listen for too long, it'll lock you in a palace with no doors.

Isaiah 43:18-19 So don't remember what happened in earlier times. Don't think about what happened a long time ago, because I am doing something new! Now you will grow like a new plant. Surely you know this is true. I will even make a road in the desert, and rivers will flow through that dry land.

No amount of regret can change what happened in years gone by. It'll only destroy your present and rob you of your future, of the life that God sent Jesus His Son for you to live in all its abundance, no matter what the world throws at you.

It's a new year. God is doing something new! Surely you know it's true.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Well, here we are, about to step over the threshold into yet another new year. The old one's pretty much done and dusted, consigned into the catalogue of years gone by. The new one is about to begin. So allow me, if you will, to ask you an important question. As you step into next year, which path will you take? The high road or the low road?

In 44 BC, Marcus Junius Brutus stood in the shadows of the Roman Senate, dagger in hand. Julius Caesar—his mentor and friend—walked unknowingly into the trap. Brutus believed that he was saving the Republic. But in choosing betrayal over dialogue, murder over mercy, he unleashed chaos.

Rome didn't return to freedom—instead, it spiralled into a brutal empire. Civil war ensued. Brutus died by his own hand. His name is etched in history not as a saviour, but as a symbol of treachery. He chose the wrong path.

Which path will you choose this year? Will you take the high road, or will you coast down the low road? Here's God's take, God's loving advice to you, as you contemplate the year ahead:

Proverbs 4:26-27 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (NIV)

It's all too easy, like Brutus, to mask bad choices, deluding ourselves that we're doing the right thing. But once the blade is drawn, there's no going back. The alternative is to remain resolute, walking on the side of goodness, integrity and love.

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Admitting your own flaws, facing up to the reality that we each have chinks in our armour, taking responsibility for them, is incredibly difficult. Yet if we don't, they'll get us into a world of trouble.

Piero de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was the richest man in Florence. But unlike his wise father, young Piero ignored the warnings and overestimated his charm. So in 1494, he handed Florence over to the invading French without a fight.

The people turned on him. He was exiled, disgraced, and forgotten. He never stopped to ask, "What am I doing wrong?" Pride blinded him. And pride … well, it always has the last word.

That pride-induced inability that we each have to see, own, and deal with our innate failings can, without doubt, lead us into major blunders in our lives too. And if not major blunders, then a string of mistakes that'll conspire to rob us of the life we could have lived, the impact on this world we could have had. So …

2 Corinthians 13:5 Look closely at yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are living in the faith. Don't you realise that Christ Jesus is in you? Of course, if you fail the test, he is not in you.

Is today perhaps the day to take a closer look at yourself, to test yourself? Am I really who I think I am? Am I really living for Jesus? Is He really the Lord of my life … or am I kidding myself?

It never hurts to take a closer look.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.