SetApart1

Resolved?
A New Years Treatise.

Happy New Year! It’s that time again, and everyone I know is hoping for a fantastic year, filled with positive changes, earth-sweeping good vibes and a dash of recovery on so many levels. And who doesn’t love a clean slate, a fresh start, or a new beginning?

That’s why millions of people will carry on the tradition of making some resolutions – resolving to do something to make the new year brighter than the previous one. No surprise then, that the most popular resolutions have to do with our least favorite habits. In America, the number one resolution will have something to do with losing weight, or getting in shape. This is always closely followed by saving money (or getting out of debt), quitting smoking, and being a kinder (or better) person. This list of popular resolutions is always the same, and that is because the list of broken resolutions is made up of the exact same well-intended items.

If this is our fate, the old proverb speaks volumes: “He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool.”

Jonah Lehrer of the WSJ says that a list is the worst thing we can do to make changes in our life. Essentially, if we are going to make changes in ourselves, we have to do it one thing at a time (i.e., quitting smoking and dieting at the same time is much more difficult than just quitting smoking, and makes discouragement and abandonment more probable). While I don’t disagree with the science behind this observation, I wonder if there is a way to approach life change in a more holistic manner.

Something else to ponder is the lack of spiritual resolve when it comes to vision for a brighter future. For example, maintaining a blog is much higher on the “resolutions list” than say, reading the bible or pursuing truth or getting to know Jesus. And I wonder if our priorities were in order if these other things would fall into place. Perhaps they would take care of themselves. Or, maybe they would just not bother so much after all… As ministers of the Gospel, we would do well to note the enormous opportunities we have before us.

Every year at this time my mind is pulled like a compass to true north, and I remember these words penned so long ago by Saint Paul: “Be imitators of God and live a life of love just as Christ loved us…” He goes on, perhaps even more poignantly, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” I’m not big on making New Years Resolutions flippantly, but I believe in making the best use of time. I believe that if I am to be an imitator of God, I’d better learn something about His kind of love. I think this is a perfect place to start. Along with going to the gym more often.

Every year, as I hear so many half-hearted so-called “resolutions” I muse at the term. Perhaps we should call them “New Years Wishes” or “New Years Things I’d Accomplish if I Was Only a  Little More Committed to Them.” To make a resolution is to make a commitment. To be resolved. To have firmness of decision. To have a fixed purpose. To be determined.

Jonathan Edwards, the famous revivalist (not the psychic Jonathan Edwards of “Crossing Over” fame!) wrote some 70 resolutions when he was just 19 years old. He would spend the rest of his days committed to these, and working them out in his theology and practical living. I wish to only share the first one, which is plenty to think about as we kick off a new year. I invite you to read the rest, should you dare.

Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

“Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration; without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved, to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved, so to do, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.”

In this new year, may the Lord grant you the desires of your heart as you cultivate the fellowship you’ve been invited into through Christ our Lord.

Popularity: 3% [?]