Resolution

At the beginning of every year you hear all about what resolutions people are making and by the beginning of February most people have given up, failed, or forgotten about what they set out to do. I bet by June most people can’t even remember what their resolution was. A resolution is defined as “a firm decision to do or not to do something”. Firm is defined as “strongly felt and unlikely to change”. Then why do we call these goals we set out to do resolutions? We aren’t really firm in our decision because the hype we create around the resolution IS likely to change. We aren’t determined to work until we complete these goals. We think we are for a time but then we get discouraged and lose faith.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I feel like a lot of Christians think of God, His Word, and His ways just like they think of New Year Resolutions. They have a time where they are pumped about their resolution, they have created strategies and read all kinds of self-help articles on how to work towards their goal. The New Year gets here, and they are determined. They start working toward their goal, fast and hard. Then they don’t see results, it is not as fulfilling as they thought it would be, or some other reason and their determination dwindles. They take their eyes off of the end goal. They don’t remember why they started. They comfort themselves in knowing that they have lived their lives thus far without being successful at their resolution, so it is not a big deal if they don’t succeed in it. Then they forget they even made a resolution until the next year when the process starts all over again.

We as Christians can be that way. We go to church, a conference, or have a good spiritual talk with friends and get all excited about God; what He did for us and how He can use us for His good. We get excited. We start to get serious about being involved with a church, a Bible study, or a specific mission. We get determined to live like Christ, tell others about Him, and do what He commands. But then temptations come into our lives. We want to sleep instead of go to church, we want to hang out with friends instead of volunteer, we try to witness to others, but it comes with negative reactions and criticism. We slowly forget why we started doing all these things in the first place. We think to ourselves “I am still a Christian regardless of what I do or how much time I spend with Christ, I can help people when the situation comes up, and if God really wants someone to hear the gospel, He will find a way.” Then we forget about Christ for a time and wait till another church service or conference comes along and the process starts all over.

We are human. We get excited and we get disappointed. We forget and we fail. Even as Christians we are sinners and as Christians, we should be the first to admit that we are sinners. But also, as Christians we should never forget WHY we are Christians. We should never forget the importance of Christ and the necessity that Christ is in our eternal life. As Christians we should not look at God in the mindset of a New Year Resolution, but instead we should continue to work to live like Christ, tell others about Him, and do what He commands continually in a way that will not change, so that others can learn about Christ. We should use Christ as a motivation to accomplish the Christian resolution to share the gospel and live a life for and like Christ! We will get discouraged and fail, but we should always look right back to the cross. When we look at the cross, we are reminded that Christ came to this earth and did NOT lose sight of His purpose. He did NOT lose determination. He did NOT fail. Instead, He loved us unconditionally. He never gave up on His work because He knew the immense importance it had. Because Christ came to this earth, died on the cross, and rose from the dead; He accomplished His resolution, to save us from sin, death and the devil. And because Christ did that, we will live forever in eternity with Him!

1 Corinthians 6:11

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.