The New Year is quickly approaching, and that can only mean one thing- New Year's Resolutions. If you are anything like me, you probably have made several of these New Year’s Resolutions with no avail. I have done them all: I’m going to get in shape (got tired of the gym after two weeks), I’m going to quit drinking soft drinks (I’m still a sucker for Cokes), or maybe even, oh I don’t know, promised myself I would dress better (yep, 2016 was another year of lots of t-shirts, flannels, and yoga pants for me, too). But, I digress. New Year’s Resolutions can be so tough to keep.

However, it would be pretty cool if we decided to change our lifestyle in an even more impactful way. While getting in the gym more is great and will better me personally, how much better would it be if we also began making changes to our lifestyles that would radically change us and those around us?

This could consist of having a more thankful attitude. It could be to have a more positive attitude. However, I can’t think of a better NYR than resolving to love one another.

How simple that sounds. In theory, it seems like a pretty easy feat. I can, after all, love my family easily. Loving my friends is a piece of cake. But what about those who are different from me? What about those who don't love me in return?

This really hit me while I was watching a commercial for a new TV show on A&E the other day. This commercial featured a leader of the KKK who stated that protecting the white race is his mission given from God.

This is obviously wrong. It is outright hate and, even worse, it is using religion as a crutch for hate. We can all see the fault in that. However, how often are we guilty of the same thing? Maybe it isn’t as blatant as the hate in that man’s heart, but if we were honest, could we say that we love all people, no matter our differences, in the same way?

Do we go the extra mile to extend kindness to all? Do we see each other as someone we could love, or simply as someone completely separate from us? Do we look upon each person, no matter our differences, as someone who needs and is deserving of love?

Are we willing to hang our hats on the truth that every person is someone who Jesus saw as worth dying for?

Jesus didn’t die so that we could prop up our biases on His Word. Rather, His Word shows us a freedom from the biases that this world teaches.

My Lord and Savior died so that I, as well as the rest of the world, might know life and know it more abundantly. The most well-lived, most abundant lives I have ever seen are those that consist of that true, radiant, Christ-inspired love that overspills onto those around us.

We as Christians are called to a radical love that shines so brightly that it changes the world around us. We are not to allow the hate that this world creates change us.

The God I know and love, the One who gave His Son for me and every being in this world, did not call me to hate others for any reason. Jesus Christ did not die for my sins for me to hate others based on their religion, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic class, or any other classification that often serves as a division between us.

The God I serve called me to love every human being that I come into contact with. He called me to love others and be His light on this world, and the very book that outlines how I should live my life tells me that the greatest pursuit I can have is love. And I will make sure that the love He so willingly gives to me is reflected onto all whom I come into contact with.

With Christmas having come and gone, I had the opportunity to reflect on the life of Jesus and all that He stood for. Jesus didn’t just love his twelve buds. He didn’t just love his mama and daddy. He instead loved the tax collectors, the adulterers, and every sinner- past, present, and future. Sinners just like me.

Jesus died not only for those who loved Him. He hung on the cross, in agony, under the weight of all sin for every single person, even those who spit in His face. Even those who forced thorns onto His forehead. Even those who drove nails into His palms.

If Jesus can love that immensely, that radically, that He, the King of all kings, would die for me and every soul that would ever inhabit this earth, I can love with all that is in me.

As for me, in the New Year, I will choose love over hate.