Today is January 1st, and as I sit here in my office I am thinking, like a lot of you, about resolutions. What is 2010 going to hold, and how am I going to live differently? What needs to change, what needs to go, what needs to come? A lot of us will have resolutions to get thinner, grow healthier, eat better, save more, and even give more. Those are good, and I have some of those myself.
I thought I’d do a little non-scientific bible search on the word “resolve”. Here’s where it shows up (at least, in the NIV):
Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 2 Chronicles 20:3
Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. Psalm 17:3
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel 1:8
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
How do your resolutions for 2010 stack up to these? They are challenging, aren’t they? They make me think that my resolutions need to have more to do with God than me. More to do with seeing His kingdom come than my own. More to do with what He cares about, not me. And more to do with His plan for humanity, not my weak plans for myself.
May God be honored by my resolve this year. May He give you and me strength to pursue Him, and may He give us the life-transformation that only He can bring.
My resolution for this year, and also for the next ones, if needed is to find my soulmate. A loving and caring man.
Along the Beatles Rock Band connection to the New Year, is it fair to ask, “So you say you want a resolution”?