To Be or Not to Be - Resolutions

Some of you have asked about my New Year resolutions or commitments that I have made to Christ. As I taught on Sunday morning, many do not keep their commitments for a number of reasons. One reason is because they are not meaningful or challenging enough. What I mean by that is it must be something you believe important enough to follow through with and that other activities will not overshadow them. Remember this is a commitment to Christ and is focused on Him first and foremost not what we might want more for ourselves. Secondly, it must be a commitment that can easily be measured. In this, it’s important that you don’t set the goal too high to where you are quickly discouraged. I once had a goal to read the Bible through 4 times in one year. However, I didn’t make it, but I didn’t quite and was able to read it through almost 3 times. Obviously, I received a great blessing from that.

What is important is that we follow through with our commitments and that means they have to continually be put before you as a reminder. Many people today are IT savvy and imbed their commitments into their calendar on Outlook. I use both technology and the old school way. I have automatic pop ups on my calendar to remind me of daily, weekly, and monthly goals, but also use my daily journal that has my goals written out in 05 lead pencil. If you are really serious about your commitments you will also make yourself accountable to someone else. Share with someone what your commitments are. In many instances you don’t have to be to specific if it’s a personal matter and they might just ask you if you have been faithful in what you allow yourself to look at (TV, computer, etc.).

Remember these commitments you have to the Lord have been prayed over and have been determined to be important. Because of this, it’s always best to prioritize these commitments. For me, that means I do them first before other things. In other words, many of my commitments are spiritual in nature, thus they are done first before other things. Practically what that entails is I get up early and give the first part of my day to the Lord.

Many of you are probably wondering how do we determine what our resolutions, priorities and goals will be. Here I think it’s best to partner with the Holy Spirit of God and ask some questions in regard to four major areas: Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, and Relational. This is hard work and often can’t be done in one sitting. Here are just a few questions that I have asked the Holy Spirit over the last 3-4 weeks in helping to determine my resolutions and might help you with the process:

Q 1: What am I doing in my devotion time that needs to change and get better?
Answer 1: I need to get back to reading the Bible through each year.
Action Plan: Find or develop a reading plan that will keep me on track that includes readings from both NT and OT along with a daily Psalm and Proverb.
Answer 2: I need to memorize/meditate more Scripture.
Action Plan: Use book “Scripture Memory Made Easy” by Mark Water.

Q 2: Do I exercise enough?
Answer: No.
Action Plan: Exercise at least three times each week for 30 minutes.

As you can see this is not an easy process but it will make a difference. I will leave you with this reminder that permanent change is inward and temporary change is outward.

That’s simple. If we’re going to be the person that we need to be and that God wants us to be, the first thing that we are going to have to understand is the real change that is lasting and for eternity is an inward change. And that outside change, what we are, flesh, at best it’s just a few school years. Isn’t it amazing how much we spend on the outward and how little we spend on the inward?