Seek First the Kingdom this New Year
Cross-Cultural Voices
Jan 6, 2026
Maisee Vang: When I am scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, and I'm comparing my lifestyle to others, and I'm basing my goals and trends on what I see on social media instead of what God has already given to me or what God is calling me to do, right? Not everything on social media is bad, but when we misplace our priorities, it can stray us away from God's calling and direction for us.
John Yoder: Welcome everybody to Cross-Cultural Voices. My name is John.
Maisee Vang: And my name is Maisee.
Robin Karkafi: And I'm Robin.
Maisee Vang: Yeah, it's so good to be here with all of you again. I know that the holidays just passed and everyone just celebrated the New Year not too long ago. And with that, we really wanted to bring everyone into a special New Year's conversation with us about how we can align our New Year's goals with Jesus.
So to start us off, John and Robin, I thought that it would be fun for us to answer some questions to warm everyone up. Okay. So for the first question, what are some common New Year's resolutions people make?
John Yoder: lose weight?
Maisee Vang: Oh yeah, that's, I was about to say, definitely one of the most common.
Robin Karkafi: Other than lose weight, save up maybe.
Maisee Vang: Yes. Save up something related to, uh, finance. Yeah, definitely. I agree. Those are the two most common.
And then secondly, what is some humorous or one of the most weird New Year's resolutions you've ever heard of?
John Yoder: So I knew you were going to ask this question, Maisee. So I actually did a search, and this is a list from scarymommy.com. And I have to be honest, I don't normally follow scarymommy.com, but they had a great list. So here's a few of their suggestions.
Number one, stop doom scrolling on Twitter.
Number two, buy only pants with no buttons or zippers.
Then, go vegan for six months and inevitably give up.
Turn all my high-heeled shoes into flats.
Don't text that toxic person back. You know the one. We all have one.
Stop making lists that include more lists.
Use every spare piece of wrapping paper tube I come across as a makeshift light saber.
And last of all, use every bit of willpower I have to not hit the elevator button repeatedly in a futile attempt to get it to go faster.
Maisee Vang: Those are definitely funny, and it comes from scarymommy.com, huh? Yeah, I love it. Um, I think for me, one of the funniest ones I've heard is, someone once told me, my New Year's resolution is to make sure that my feet doesn't smell as bad.
And when I heard that, I like started laughing 'cause I was like, oh, okay. But then I quickly felt really bad because I found out and realized that some people really do struggle with like if there's an infection or a medical reason for that, that no matter what they do, like their feet may still not smell as good. And so that could be a real struggle for some people. Although initially hearing it, it was kind of funny to me.
All right, so now that we've had a little to giggle about, let's move into the main part of our conversation for today. As I was planning out the content for this New Year's episode, the Bible verse that really stuck out to me was Matthew 6:33, and I'm just gonna read it here for us. It says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
And you know, I think the reason why this Bible verse really stuck out to me is because not only is it one of my favorite Bible verses, but it reminds me that if I'm going to ask God for anything or set goals for myself, I need to be seeking God first.
But instead, we oftentimes let ourselves drown in our worries and our anxieties and all the pressure then comes onto us. But Jesus command it and his teaching here is that we don't need to worry about anything. Well, what about we don't need to worry about, we're going to eat where we're going to drink?
Because he gives an example here, of even the flowers in the fields and the grass, God clothes. And all we need to do is just first seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added onto us according to God's will.
Keeping this Bible verse in mind, John and Robin, what do you guys think is a good way for us to plan our New Year's goals, to ensure that we're not straying away from God's plan or calling for us?
John Yoder: Well, we certainly want to encourage people who have everyday goals, right? So if somebody says, I want to lose weight, I want to start saving money, I'd like to have another child, or I'd like to get a better job. That's absolutely fine. People should have those kind of goals, but they should not be our only goals.
The question is, we don't seek only the kingdom of God, we seek first the kingdom of God. So how is that reflected in my goals? Do I have goals for my spiritual life, for prayer, for the word, for church engagement? How do I see to it that as I focus my energy for 2026, that the kingdom of God comes first?
Maisee Vang: Yeah. I really like what you said there, John. Thank you for pointing that out. It says, but seek first his kingdom and righteousness. But it doesn't say you can't seek any other things for yourself, right? So I believe that God knows exactly what we need and that if we first put his kingdom priorities before ours, that he will give what we need according to his will to us, and fulfill what we ask for.
Robin Karkafi: Very honestly, I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks, because I'm trying to set myself goals. I've had a piece of advice given to me is, if you want to reflect on what your life priorities, your subconscious life priorities look like, write yourself a eulogy and build back from there.
What do you want people to remember you as? And work back at ten year goals, five year goals, and then your one year goals because it gives less of a short term view on what my goals are. Because a year is not a long time. A year goes by very quick. I mean, this year went by so quick for some reason.
I'm sure you guys feel that. And then, you look at the what I looked at what I wrote down and, and I saw that that I, me wanting to be remembered as a godly man who loved to pour on others and to give people the time they deserve, was, well, it's something that God's put on my heart.
Uh, and working back from that, it's like, how am I being intentional about that? How am I being in day-to-day life, with my friends, with the people who God's entrusted me? And one reminder that showed up while I was reading the word is for me to be a good steward of my time.
And so a year is given to me. Now, how do I steward time? And so am I investing into my personal relationship with God? Am I investing into the ministry of family God's given me? Because that is the second most important ministry, and it is family. It is whether that's your, your parents, your siblings, your loved ones, honestly looking at the time and how I'm spending my week is what my goals I want to revolve around and all those I ask myself, where do I find God in every single one of these goals? And how intentional am I being about serving God throughout the week?
Maisee Vang: Thank you for sharing, Robin. I completely agree with you on that. So it sounds like what you're saying is, first it's God, but look at your other priorities and your second most important ministry is family and I think that is so important because we often think that our priorities should just be about serving at church when really your main ministry should be the people around you. And sometimes we forget about that.
I want to bring up this Bible verse, where it talks about, in Proverbs 16:8, it says that “Humans can plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” I believe that as humans, we tend to have a tendency to plan ahead for our future and our goals, but we need to submit to God and the Holy Spirit leading us, because it is eventually the Lord who establishes our steps.
Another thing that I wanted to add is that we are to trust that the Lord is sovereign over all things, right? In Jeremiah 29:11, he says that he has a perfect plan for us, plans to prosper us and to not harm us. So regardless whether our goals are met or the things that we asked God for, were not received, we are to trust that the Lord is sovereign over all things and that he knows what's best for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us.
All right, so moving on to the next question: What are some distractions that can stray us away from allowing God to establish our steps for the goals that we set?
Robin Karkafi: I think we can get so easily distracted with anything self-serving, whether that's too much of a good thing, you know, we can list off a list of entertainment or even traveling, which some people will get angry at that. But people love to do what they love to do. But when it becomes a main goal where it is self-serving and not self-sacrificial.
And then I believe those are, and I'm not specifying anything specifically any one of those. But it could be anything that we put at the center of her life, instead of putting God at the center of our life.
John Yoder: Sometimes it can be things that are clearly wrong like pornography. But at other times it's things that aren't necessarily wrong, but they're just time wasters, like video games or social media.
There's nothing wrong with those. You can use those to the glory of God. There are people who do marvelous evangelism on social media. But if we're not careful, things like that or television or whatever our hobbies are, can be distractions that in themselves are not wrong, but they just keep us from doing the things that we know we need to do.
Maisee Vang: Yeah, those are definitely some great thoughts. I agree with both of you. And echo to your point, John, yeah, social media and the influence of other people is a big one, right? And so if we get to the point of idolizing. Right? I think Robin, you were kind of thinking about like thinking of the worldly things if we put too much attention to it too. That's basically idolizing the things of this world and we're putting the things of this world before God.
Not that we can't have hobbies like what John said, right? Not that we can't, like certain things that does not go against God and it's not a sin. But when it becomes an idolization where we prioritize those things before God, that's when it could become a distraction.
And so I think of social media, at least for myself, I'm guilty of this, right? When I am scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, and I'm comparing my lifestyle to others and I'm basing my goals and trends on what I see on social media instead of what God has already given to me or what God is calling me to do, right?
And so like echoing what you guys said, not everything on social media is bad, but when we misplace our priorities, it can stray us away from God's calling and direction for us.
Another thing that I wanted to add on is discontent, right? When we put too much focus on what we don't have and we forget to count the blessings of what we've already been given, discontent can also shift our focus away from God's provision. So it's always important to count our blessings.
All right, let's move on to the next question. How does your identity shape your goals, both as a believer and as someone who is multi-ethnic, navigating cultural expectations?
So, as someone being multi-ethnic, navigating cultural expectations in the Hmong culture. There's this thing where people are always saying, “Make sure that you're a really good daughter-in-law.”
I don't know if you know, but in the Hmong culture, when a man marries a woman, they have to pay a dowry price. And oftentimes that dowry price is no less than $5,000. I've seen anywhere from 5,000 up to like even $15,000 for a dowry price to marry someone. And that is the responsibility of the man to pay for that.
And so, because there's a price that comes along with paying for your wife, there's always this thing where you have to be a good daughter-in-law, and to be worth your price that your husband paid for you. Sometimes it's kind of become like a joke too.
There is that pressure of like, oh, I have to be a good daughter-in-law. I have to be a good wife because they paid this price for me. But you know, for me, I set this goal for me to be a better wife and a better daughter-in-law, it's not because of these cultural expectations, even though I would say a part of me set these goals because I've grown up hearing this from my parents: “Make sure you're a good wife. You make sure you're a good daughter-in-law.”
But I think for me it's more so honoring my husband and honoring my mother-in-law, right? I do these things, I want to become a better wife. And this goes back to my belief as a believer, right? So I am to submit to my husband and I am to honor and respect him. Because I believe in that, I'm not going to do these things because I have that cultural expectation. Although initially I may have thought about that because it's been drilled into my head.
But I'm going to do it because I'm called to. I'm called to love my husband, and then I'm going to be a better daughter-in-law because I'm going to honor my parents. Right? The word of God said to honor your parents, to honor the elders. And so, and because my mother-in-law is just someone who's so sweet and she loves me like her own daughter too, that I want to give the same love back.
And then as a believer, my husband and I, we oftentimes set our goals by starting out with a Bible verse. And so we write a Bible verse down and then we say that this is the Bible verse of the year. We're going to set our goals based off of this Bible verse. And it's sort of like a covenant that we write for our family, right? If this is the Bible verse that we're going to live off, how do our goals line up to this Bible verse? And so that's just how it works for my family and as a believer, how we align ourselves with the word of God.
John Yoder: Another question we might ask because so many of our listeners are young adults is, “What does it mean for me as a young adult to be setting goals?”
Because between the ages of roughly, let's just say 15 and 35, we make so many of the important decisions of who we are: where or whether we go to school, where or whether we marry, have children, buy a house, and these are things that are extremely difficult, right?
Every high schooler should be asking the question, am I going to college or not? If not, am I going to trade school? If not, what kind of job will I get into so that I don't spend my life ringing a cash register? These are questions that are very important. Questions of dating and marriage are very important. They ought to be part of our lives because the longer a person waits to get married, the more risky pregnancy and childbirth becomes. So for people to be making goals about having children and marriage, we also know that houses are priced out of the market for many young people, and a lot of folks are stressed out. Will I ever be able to get into a house?
So we want to seek first the kingdom of God. We want to prioritize the word of God and prayer and engagement in a church and God's people. But at the same time, a lot of the time and energy for young people needs to be education, marriage, family, and house, and similar kinds of questions. And I think as the church, we need to be part of the voice guiding the spiritual conversation, but having an influence in the other conversations as well.
Robin Karkafi: Yeah. If I may add actually, John, this, that's great. Your point that out there is like an identity formation that happens at that early age and it really depends on at what age a person of a different ethnic background comes into the country, right?
For younger, we're talking sub 10 years old, it's easier for them to adjust. I mean, personally, I came when I was 10 to Canada? And most of my friends and the people that I meet, they assume that I'm born here because my adjustment was smoother and I identify more as a Canadian rather than a Lebanese person.
So it's unfortunate, like unfortunately kids and teenagers and young adults, while they're adjusting to the new environment and the new culture their mental capacity to form an identity is very limited. I mean, there's all these questions of, you know, Am I fitting in?
And it's all about survival. Nothing about really solidifying a foundation. And so that's the big question that we talk about this on the podcast so often. And I find that fortunately, praise God, the correction happens afterwards. Like it wasn't until my early twenties that the correction for my identity and who I am started to become more solidified and in Christ, and what he says and who he says I am.
Maisee Vang: Yeah. I think you summed it up pretty well, Robin. It doesn't matter if you don't know what your identity is, but if you go to God and pray about it, that he would reveal it to you and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you. I love that.
Just to sum up everything that we've talked about in this question, like to just ensure that we blend faith, culture, and purpose in a healthy Christ-centered way. Right. I think that's what I've been hearing from all of us.
And then last but not least, it's always easy to set goals. I feel like everyone can set goals, right? But many people don't even keep their New Year's resolutions until the end of January. So how can we keep our commitments for the long term?
John Yoder: Well, I think some people go crazy with their goals. They set too many goals, unrealistic goals, high goals, and. then it's exhausting to do all of that. So after a while, they stop. The question to ask is, over the next 365 days, how much time and energy do I have? If I set the goal that I'm going to pray an hour a day and I can't, am I a failure? But if I say I'm going to pray five minutes a day and scale up, I can do that. That's a success.
So I don't want to discourage you from praying an hour a day. If that is something that God has laid on your heart and given you the ability to do, by all means go for it. But we're more likely to succeed over the long term if we set goals that we can realistically accomplish.
Robin Karkafi: I find that also when we do set unrealistic goals and fail, inevitably I feel like that's sometimes a signal for me like, God's kind of telling me, Hey, maybe patience is something that you set as your goal, right? Like, uh, take it one step at a time and allow me to do the work, and not you do the work.
And, and I think it really is about bringing our goals to Christ and asking him what on this list of goals is not from you. And if it is not from you, then please remove it because the last thing I want to do is be wasting time on a goal that's keeping me away from what God wants actually wants me to do.
Maisee Vang: I love that, Robin. It sounds like what you're saying is like, you know, we are to first pray and ask God what is it in his will for us, and if it's not in his will, for him to take it away. And, then if it is in his will that he would give you the strength to be able to achieve these goals. 'cause we know that nothing is possible without him. And so I love what you're saying that, like to ask God and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you.
All right, we've had a wonderful conversation so far, and next time that all of you hear from us, we will be talking about how Jesus meets rejection. So stay tuned for that. Until then, see you all next time.
