2016 Resolutions

I absolutely hate the first two weeks of January. When I go to the gym, parking places are hard to find, the locker room is absolutely full, and the pool is more crowded than usual. Everyone and his brother has decided that he is going to get healthy in the new year – that’s the resolution. But, by the third week of January, the gym has become far less crowded – many, it seems, have thrown in the towel on the new year’s resolution.

I typically don’t bother making many resolutions – why make something that I’m going to break in two weeks or less? But, this year, I’ve made several resolutions. They’re resolutions I believe I really need to keep. They’re resolutions I’m determined to keep. They’re resolutions I’d urge you to keep. Here they are:

1. I want to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18).
2. I want to forgive “as the Lord has forgiven” me (Col 3:13).
3. I want to do my best to present myself “to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).
4. I want to “resist the devil” that he might flee from me (Js 4:7).
5. I want to let my speech “always be gracious, seasoned with salt” (Col 4:6).
6. I want to let my “light shine before others, so that they may see [my] good works and give glory to [my] Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
7. I want to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17).
8. I want to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58).
9. I want “not [to] be overcome by evil, but [to] overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).
10. I want to say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb 13:6).

In short, I have only one resolution this year: To be like Jesus. That’s not a resolution which needs to start on January 1. Instead, it’s a resolution I must make every day. Every day God grants me to live upon this earth I must resolve to be molded into the image of His Son. That’s how I will walk with God as He walks with me. I know that throughout this coming year God will walk right beside me, for He has walked with me.