I made no specific New Year’s resolutions this year, though I certainly have some things in my life worthy of my resolve — things like losing weight, eating healthier, exercising more, and… Perhaps I should have resolved to take inventory and make a list of new resolves since there are plenty of needs in that regard.

But rather than making a long list of resolves I will likely fail to achieve, I decided to focus on my greatest need at this point in life and travel in that direction one step at a time. As a former truck driver, I learned the only way to reach a distant destination was to take it one mile at a time, so a step at a time is at least headed in the right direction.

In Psalm 90:10, Moses wrote, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

This is the year I reach “threescore years and ten,” which means I will have reached my life expectancy in just a few months. Any years beyond 70 are an extra blessing from the Giver of Life, though I can expect in any years yet to come “labor and sorrow” and, ultimately, an end to this earthly life because of God’s wrath against sin. (I invite you to take the time to read Psalm 90.)

This reality — and my body reminds me of this psalm’s truth — has made clear to me what is most important in this new year and in any years yet to come for me. The 12th verse of Psalm 90 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

While losing weight and getting more exercise may be important, what is truly important is being ready for what will follow life in this sin-stained world — How can I be ready to meet my Maker? Because stand before Him I soon will!

Such thoughts have prompted me to re-examine much in my life, including things I have believed, taught and practiced. It has caused me to seek God’s mercy for past sins and failures and to take comfort in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God the Son in human flesh and blood. There is no benefit in covering up past sins or trying to excuse them because, as the Bible states: “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 90:8). It also says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

I am also sifting through my beliefs and teaching to distinguish and separate between God’s truth and manmade applications and sometimes additions and alterations to the truth. This is not picking and choosing what I like or dislike, what I wish to teach and what I would rather ignore; it’s distinguishing between what is taught in the Bible and what is advocated by men and churches and denominations in applying Biblical teaching.

One pastor I know from a Lutheran Church of German heritage said it this way: “Give me Jesus without the sauerkraut.” In other words, it’s to hold fast to Jesus and what the Bible teaches without insisting on the traditions and rites instituted by men (what might be called sauerkraut for Lutherans with German heritage and some other dish for churches with different traditions and practices and of a different heritage).

I’m not saying all traditions and rites are bad; they can be helpful, but they should never be elevated to the point of being necessary for salvation or the only right way to practice the Christian Faith.

One thing the Bible makes quite clear is that there is only one way to be acceptable to God and counted righteous and holy in His eyes, and that is through faith in Jesus and His cross. The Bible teaches that believers are “accepted in the Beloved” and “have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6-7; cf. Col. 1:19-23). There is no other way to be acceptable to God or to stand in His judgment. No human rites or traditions, nothing I do can make me acceptable to God. It is only through faith in Jesus and His cross; I don’t need to eat the sauerkraut — it makes me gag a bit anyway.

It is as the Robert Lowry hymn says so well, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

In the eyes of some, my journey of re-evaluating beliefs and teachings and distinguishing between Biblical doctrine and manmade traditions and practices might disqualify me from being truly Lutheran. Many other churches and denominations might disqualify me, too, because I do not endorse their views, rites, and traditions. But being accepted by men and earthly churches doesn’t matter nearly so much as being accepted by God, and God accepts me for Jesus’ sake!