Resolutions! Most make them on New Years Eve. Some deep thinkers write them down as they discover the need for resolutions in the year while the old year is still in play. Others decide why make resolutions...I'm just gonna break them. Then the worst of the resolution makers actually enjoy breaking them. I remember an old friend who used smoke like a factory chimney. He wreaked of smoke, his breath, his body odor, his clothing...and to be honest, it was over-powering. I was his roomie for a while after a rough divorce. I tried to get him to quit, and he would resolve each year at Christmas that change was going to occur. Nope, didn't happen. The first time he smelled someone smoking he always had a reserve pack under his car seat in case he just couldn't take any more. I used to tell him how self-defeating it was to have a reserve pack. He would smile.
Alcoholics, gamblers, sex addicts, etc., etc., do the same thing. They swear to themselves and everybody still left to listen they will change in the New Year, but so many have a reserve "something" stashed somewhere to bail out their cravings! You see the real need for resolutions isn't about quitting it's about living! It's about being the best person we can possibly be so that others we care about will think about doing the same thing. How will they hear you if they can't see changes you have been successful at? At 62 years of age, my friend died of lung cancer, but he would've died from heart failure according to his doctor or some other complication from his terrible lifestyle. Don't get me wrong. He was good and generous man. I thought the world of Spanky. I admired many of his traits and he had some very hard things to overcome but he never stopped thinking of others. I miss him. So in honor of my buddy I am asking you to consider a new way of looking at resolutions and make them from a scriptural standpoint. Why? Because if we do it in cooperation with the Holy Spirit that resides within us, we stand a greater gain by doing it God's way and with His help.
These are taken from the Common English Bible. No, I am not changing Bibles, I still love the New King James and the New American Standard, but these are very understandable.
Forgive others and past failures and look to a better future(forgiveness does not mean you have trust or reconcile but it leaves the door open if real repentance should occur):
1. Don't remember the prior things; don't ponder ancient history. Look! I'm doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don't you recognize it? I'm making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness.
– Isaiah 43:18-19 CEB
Trust God when you don't feel like trusting:
2. Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn't ended; certainly God's compassion isn't through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
– Lamentations 3:22-23 CEB
Renew your way of thinking:
3. Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God's image in justice and true holiness.
– Ephesians 4:23-24 CEB
Everything in due season:
4. God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.
– Ecclesiastes 3:11 CEB
Gain a world view of life in Christ:
5. Look among the nations and watch! Be astonished and stare because something is happening in your days that you wouldn't believe even if told.
–Habakkuk 1:5 CEB
Praise Him every morning before you start your day:
6. Sing to the Lord a new song because he has done wonderful things! His own strong hand and his own holy arm have won the victory!
–Psalm 98:1 CEB
Don't be double-minded. Say what you mean in love and mean what you say:
7. I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them. I will remove the stony hearts from their bodies and give them hearts of flesh.
–Ezekiel 11:19 CEB
God has everything under control and and is always making things better. Write down what He tells you in prayer. Learn to listen carefully:
8. Then the one seated on the throne said, "Look! I'm making all things new." He also said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
–Revelation 21:5 CEB
Suffer the setbacks to His glory. Everything passes through His Hands for our benefit, even the hard to take:
9. I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us.
–Romans 8:38 CEB
We are new creations in Christ our Lord, show others the hope of glory that is in you by living an exemplary life. It is never to late to start:
10. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed! On account of his vast mercy, he has given us new birth. You have been born anew into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
–1 Peter 1:3 CEB
May the God of Creation, Christ our Lord, bless you abundantly in the New Year!
Ted
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