I Am Resolved.....

I AM RESOLVED….

Tomorrow’s “that day” again.

Ever wonder why goals, resolutions, promises and more are so blasted hard to keep? You know we wake up on January 1 realizing there is no difference in that day than the day before and we blow all of our resolutions by mid-January? Why can’t we keep them?

• Maybe they aren’t realistic. No, you aren’t going to lose 50 pounds in one month. No, you aren't going to become a Bible scholar by reading the first chapter of Genesis.
• Maybe we treat resolutions like a wish-list instead of true resolve.
• Maybe we just don’t want to do the work.
• Maybe we do want to do the work, but we rely on our power to do so when that’s the LAST moment we need to do so. Even in our strengths, we need to rely on God totally – so why do we resolve to do things under our own power when we are at our weakest?
• Maybe we want to good things for bad reasons. Do we want to eat better and exercise more to glorify God or glorify ourselves? Do we want to read the Bible more because we want to be nearer to God or because it just sounds like what Christian ought to be doing?

Ultimately, it’s our own fault. We build everything up so between Christmas and New Year’s - desiring perfection on the FIRST day of January and everyday beyond. Folks, that just ain’t going to happen. Resolutions should take place daily, weekly, and monthly. And yes, sometimes hourly. God’s mercies are new every morning and we should resolve each day to live that one day for his glory in all that we do. Perfection is unattainable…..but the devil likes to torment us and when we do foul things up – he whispers, “See there! I told you that you were pathetic. Just quit!!” And sometimes we do just that.

Resolve takes time and practice and prayer and patience – not just a mindset switch at 12:00 New Year’s Eve.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT RESOLUTIONS?

Here’s just a little…..

1. Lamentations 3:40 – “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
2. 1 Timothy 6:11 - “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness”
3. Philippians 3:12-15 – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.”
4. 2 Timothy 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth”
5. Acts 20:32 – “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
6. Proverbs 15:22, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

HOW SHOULD WE APPROACH THIS NEW YEAR’S DAY OR ANY OTHER TIME OF RESOLVE?

• Meditate on Philippians 4:13 and 3:7-9. Also meditate on James 1:5, Colossians 3:17, and Psalm 37:5-6 and 51:10-11.
• Don’t give up. The resolve is a journey, not an end goal. When all we focus on is the illusive end result and not the plan, the work, the sacrifice, or God – then each day is a failure and we pine only for the end goal.

WHAT’S THE ULTIMATE WAY TO SUCCESS IN RESOLUTIONS? SERIOUSLY.

1. Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
2. If we don’t do this – we are perfect indeed – perfectly useless.
3. There are no shortcuts to this. None. So…how DO we renew the mind and transform ourselves?
4. Do you take a bath or shower every day? We are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ, but we are SANCTIFIED by the washing of the Word. So says Ephesians 25:25-27. Are you getting “washed by the Word” every day? The reason that so many Christians are losing so many battles is that they are not being washed by the Word of God daily.

Perhaps we should resolve to soak in the scriptures DAILY for a while before we tackle any other resolutions.

Bad habits are just the symptom of something much deeper and much stronger that has us in bondage.

Our minds MUST be transformed and we MUST be washed by the Word of God before symptoms begin to disappear.

Compiled by Scarlett O. - sources: Billy Graham Evangelical Association; GotQuestions; Rick Warren; Chuck Bentley; John Piper; Gateway Church Devotions; Fred Bittner; Randy Alcorn

 

Or else falls for the trap that something mystical happens on midnight of December 31 that makes one's resolve strengthened.

 

That's because God spoke with him directly - sometimes live and in person - and Abraham was obedient.

God doesn't come knocking on our door today accompanied by two angels. God doesn't ask us to gather various animals, split them in two pieces and make a covenant with him.

What he does ask of us is to treat his Word as holy and God-breathed. The same breath that came out of God's mouth to Abraham when he came in the flesh to see him is the same "breath" that is on the pages of the Bible today.

We SHOULD read it everyday. And if we have to resolve to - then do it.

It's a lamp unto our feet. It sanctifies us by washing us. It hides in our heart so that we won't sin. It corrects and teaches. And those meditate on it day and night are very "fruitful" and whose "leaves do not wither."