An Iconic Year?

I have lost count of the number of times in Bible Study groups, when the prayer time comes around and a member will ask the group to pray for God’s blessing on some major life decision they have already made. Often when that happens, I think that this is getting things the wrong way round. Rather, they should be asking the group to pray for wisdom as to what decision God wants them to make before they make it, for praying for blessing on what is not God’s will is futile. Conversely, if the decision they make is in accordance with God’s will, then his blessing is assured anyway.

It seems to me that this is an issue for us (certainly for me) as we take those first few steps into the journey of 2026 that stretches out before us. We might or might not make those traditional New Year resolutions, but we will all need to make decisions.

On New Year’s Day, I find it helpful to picture the year ahead as a blank canvas. We all have a set of paints and brushes, namely the gifts and resources God has given us, the question always being what will I decide to paint on that canvas. There is that ‘decide’ word again!

We are all made in the ‘Image’ (Genesis 1:26), the Icon (Ikwn) of God (Colossians 3:10). The ‘Image’ term reflects the practice of Kings placing images, representations, of themselves around their Kingdom to mark where they ruled. So, the purpose of being in the Image of God, our King, is to use our lives in ways that are a Kingdom presence such that we represent God to others. Thus, our painting on that canvas of time we call 2026, as we use God’s gifts and resources, should show what God is like, particularly to draw those who don’t know him into Discipleship.

So, as we step into this new year, and consider our plans and life directions, our priority must be to pray to know God’s will and act accordingly. That means not to pray for wrong things like the audience James addressed (James 4:2,3)-

‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures’ 

Once more as we step through the ‘Gate of the Year’, a good question to ask might be-

When we review what we have painted on the 31^st of December 2026, how much will it be a representation, Icon, of God’s nature to others, and of his will for us?