New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.As the first decade of the twenty-first century draws to a close, Americans are engaged in that peculiar tradition of composing their New Year's resolutions for 2010. The following is a list of the perennial top ten New Year's resolutions that people make. Do any of these seem familiar to you?Mark Twain
- Spend more time with family and friends.
- Fit in fitness.
- Tame the bulge.
- Quit smoking.
- Enjoy life more.
- Quit drinking.
- Get out of debt.
- Learn something new.
- Help others.
- Get organized.
All of the resolutions are admirable, and are worth being made. So, how many Americans, on average, keep their resolutions? Only 75 percent will still be sticking to their resolutions after the first week. After two weeks, 71 percent will still be keeping to their resolutions. After one month the number drops to to 64 percent, and 46 percent of resolutions makers are still at it after six months. Perhaps making resolutions as currently practiced does not match its definition.
The Oxford English Reference Dictionary (Second Edition; I am still waiting for someone to give me a gift of the complete OED on compact disc.) states that the most current and important definition of the noun "resolution" is "a resolute temper of character; boldness and firmness of purpose." It is interesting that the editors of this dictionary think it is the character of the individual rather than the intention resolved on, that constitutes the most significant meaning of the word resolution. Perhaps this sheds light on the reason why only 46 percent of us will still be adhering to our resolutions six months from now. We consistently make resolutions, and we consistently lack the resolve to keep them.
Perhaps our lack of resolve comes from not carefully considering the resolutions we make. Sometimes we make frivolous resolutions, not really worth all the bother to keep them. Other times we make resolutions without carefully considering the significant cost required to keep them. Certainly our lack of resolve also stems from a heart that is not disciplined to commit oneself to the resolution made. So, what we need are resolutions that are carefully considered, worthy of self-sacrifice and self-discipline, and a heart devotion to keep them. Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the example.
The Oxford English Reference Dictionary (Second Edition; I am still waiting for someone to give me a gift of the complete OED on compact disc.) states that the most current and important definition of the noun "resolution" is "a resolute temper of character; boldness and firmness of purpose." It is interesting that the editors of this dictionary think it is the character of the individual rather than the intention resolved on, that constitutes the most significant meaning of the word resolution. Perhaps this sheds light on the reason why only 46 percent of us will still be adhering to our resolutions six months from now. We consistently make resolutions, and we consistently lack the resolve to keep them.
Perhaps our lack of resolve comes from not carefully considering the resolutions we make. Sometimes we make frivolous resolutions, not really worth all the bother to keep them. Other times we make resolutions without carefully considering the significant cost required to keep them. Certainly our lack of resolve also stems from a heart that is not disciplined to commit oneself to the resolution made. So, what we need are resolutions that are carefully considered, worthy of self-sacrifice and self-discipline, and a heart devotion to keep them. Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the example.
In the meanwhile the disciples were requesting Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." The disciples therefore were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. "Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for life eternal; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."John 4:31-38
Now, how's that for a resolution? To do the will of the Father is truly a resolution to be carefully considered, requiring a great deal of self-sacrifice and self-discipline, and a heart completely devoted to fulfilling it. But, we have no hope of keeping this resolution in our own strength, nor according to our own wisdom, nor according to our own plans. If we have any hope, even the smallest of expectations, it only lies in the Cross of Christ. It is only through our laying hold of the grace of God in the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ, through faith alone, that we have any hope of striving to keep this resolution. You must be born again, as Jesus so pointedly told Nicodemus (John 3:1-15).
If you know me personally, you might say, "Well, physician heal thyself first." And such criticism is certainly justified and well deserved. But today is a new day. Friday will be a new year. And each day, God renews his grace unto his people.
Have a blessed New Year.
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.How do we develop the resolve to keep the resolution of doing the Father's will each day? First, treat each day as New Year's Day. We need to resolve our minds, our intellect, our emotions, our hearts, and our wills to do the Father's will each and every day. Second, we must cultivate a daily intimacy with the Triune God through reading the Bible and prayer, preferably twice a day. (Would you converse with your spouse only once a day? And then tell him or her only what you want?) Third, we must pray like we have never prayed before. I think that when the history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century Church is written, we will be characterized as a prayerless generation. When we pray, we must first pray for the Kingdom of Christ; that his Kingdom would increase exponentially, and that Satan's would be destroyed. Then we must pray for our civil leaders as God's ministers for the promotion of good and the punishment of evil. Finally then, we can pray for ourselves for our daily bread.G. K. Chesterton
If you know me personally, you might say, "Well, physician heal thyself first." And such criticism is certainly justified and well deserved. But today is a new day. Friday will be a new year. And each day, God renews his grace unto his people.
Have a blessed New Year.
This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.Lamentations 3:21-25
Absolutely awesome and life changing...
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