Another Resolution

In case you need reminding, 2014 is halfway gone. That’s right. It will never be repeated, ever. It is a memory that will fade into oblivion. At least that is what popular culture tells us. But actually, the first half of 2014 will come back when the books are opened in judgment. Hopefully, you are now thinking of commands you broke and callings you neglected in those months. You might even be thinking about how you were going to make sure that those things didn’t happen again. What was it you were going to do? Rummaging around in your mental junk drawer finally yields the answer. Oh yeah, the New Year’s resolution. Right around December 31 you had made some decisions about changes you were going to make. But they didn’t come easily. Your habits had a tighter grip than you thought. And not just the bad ones. Even the innocent ones sometimes just make godliness harder to pursue. Staying up late isn’t wrong, but when morning rolls around, your bed has become a sweet and comfortable vice-grip.

Here is where I remind you that resolutions are not just for the last week of December, they are for each of the 52 weeks of the year. You need 50 resolutions or more, not just one. So why not make the half-way point called July 1 a time of reflection over what went wrong and a retooling of strategy? There is nothing that says your Bible reading plan has to start in January.

Paul’s command to Timothy was to “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things” (1 Timothy 4:16). Notice the last statement, “persevere in these things.” There is no cruise control when it comes to growth and dealing with sin. It takes vigilance and action. Your flesh will always spot the way around some restriction or calling. When that happens, you probably need a new resolution. No military general keeps the same battle plan through the whole battle. Weekly resolutions are about adding new helpful ideas about how to deal with obstacles to growth. All this is done so that your flesh doesn’t deceive you into a destructive pattern or lull you into desensitization.

This is the first day of the rest of your life, so use it to make the second half of 2014 better than the first half for the glory of Jesus Christ!