New Year Resolutions

New Year Resolutions

The New Year always offers a sense of new beginnings, course-corrections, new plans, and new hope.  Lists of goals are made, stellar intentions are verbalized, lofty sights are set, and courses for self-correction are charted.  Membership at the gyms go up; church attendance is up – at least, for the first couple of weeks; diets are begun; budgets are imposed; and hope springs anew within the human breast – again, at least, for the first couple of weeks. 

As you might discern, I am not particularly keen on New Year resolutions.  Far too often, I set them, only to break them, and, then, to find myself right back in a quagmire of disappointment and a loss of hope.  If I had lost as many pounds over the years as was my resolution, I would simply be a leaf, fluttering in the wind.  If I had kept the budget constraints which I intended, I could have retired twenty years ago.  If I had honored the physical goals, I would now be running the New York Marathon. 

So many of our New Year resolutions reflect the physical, financial, and emotional needs we experience during any given time frame.  Surely, God does intend for us to care for this physical body, be good stewards over that with which He has provided our needs, and to love others in a God-honoring way.  However, a new year offers a wonderful opportunity for us to not only examine the outward and the obvious need for changes, but to also delve into the depths of our souls for the corrections that can carry us into eternity, as Paul instructs in 2 Corinthians 13:5:  Examine yourselves, as to whether you are in the faith and whether or not you are living like it.

Years ago, my precious younger brother was in Viet Nam, at the tender age of eighteen.  Far from home, in a hostile environment, both spiritually and physically, John found himself confronted with a crisis of faith.  Following a night out with his buddies, which culminated in a fight, my brother was on base the next morning to get a much-needed haircut.  A godly, African-American barber ran his fingers over my brother’s head in preparation for giving him the standard buzz cut.  As he touched a knot on my brother’s head, John winced in pain.  The very wise military barber then asked my brother a question:  Son, are you a Christian?  My brother hung his head with a barely perceptible nod.  Next, the barber asked, “Are you living like one?”  He then proceeded to tell my brother the following illustration. 

Son, I need to tell you a story.  You see, God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us so that we could live for Him.  When we accept Him as our personal Savior, we begin to walk with Him on our life journey.  We are so close to Him that He just about trips over us.  But, then, one day, that old devil, Satan, starts calling to us to leave our walk with the Lord.  He says, ‘Over here, over here.  It’s fun.  You’ll like it.’ So, we turn to the right or left, and we leave the journey God has for us.  But God, because He loves us so much, starts calling us.  He says, ‘Son, son.’  And we just keep on walking.  So He gets a little louder.  He says, ‘Son, son.’  And we keep on walking.  So, He taps us on the shoulder, calling ‘Son, son.”  But, boy, I believe He has done gone and used a 2 x 4 on your head to get your attention.  I believe you had best get back in line.

What precious words of Truth that old barber spoke so many years ago, as he encouraged my brother to take a time of self-examination, as God commanded in 2 Corinthians 13:5.  So, as we enter this new year of fresh hope, fresh grace, and fresh mercy, we might do well to ask ourselves:  Am I in the faith?  Am I a Christian?  Am I living like one?

Have a blessed New Year as you purpose in your heart to, above all, live your faith before the Father and before others!

© 2011 Gerry Sisk

(01/05/11)