New Year brings a lot of pressure into making yourself a better version of you—it talks all about ‘the new you.’

“This year, the new me is going to work out more.”

“In 2026, I’m going to change everything about myself so people will like me.”

Now let’s be honest—new does not mean bad. New can often mean good, right? Especially if it’s something for improving things that could be improved such as work ethic, career goals, media consumption, the people you hang out with, and all that jazz.

But what isn’t good is when you make it your New Year’s resolution to be different because of other people, because what they said still makes your heart ache at night, because what you saw on social media changed how you see yourself in the mirror every day.

Come on—haven’t you heard?!

God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six. (Genesis 1:31 MSG)

When God created you, He said you were very good. Not just good, but very good.

I want you to think of something that your brain immediately says is very good—or even beautiful.

But despite all of these things—and the many many more beautiful things on this earth—-God said, “You, my child, are the one that I choose and love the most.”

Is this to say that you are perfect? No, you are not perfect. Ephesians 2 says this: ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’

(Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV, emphasis my own)

We are created by God in God’s love to do God’s work—and we are made whole by God and Jesus’ sacrifice. It is not something we can achieve by changing ourselves, even if they are good changes. Nothing we do will measure up to what Jesus has already done for us.

Now you might be saying, “If God made me very good, then why aren’t I perfect?”

Well first of all, that’s a conversation for another post, not a Sunday Encouragement Post. But what I will say is this: when sin entered the world (Genesis 3) we became broken and made broken choices. We are not made perfectly, but we are made very good by a perfect God who, with the sacrifice of his Son, has given us grace and the chance to be made whole with his love.

As we step into this new year—2026 already, how crazy is that?!—I want to encourage you to not focus on ‘fixing’ yourself but rather focus on living for the God who saved you. He gave you a new start and now we can choose to live in a way that glorifies Him.

Thanks for reading and I hope this was encouraging!
~Willow

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3 NIV