Make
‘power-packed’ resolutions!
At
the end of every December there’s a January. Spooky, how that always
happens. We wrap one year up and bid it goodbye or badbye, depending on how the
year went, and we say hello to a whopping new 365 days. What on earth are we
going to do with all of that unused time? Obviously we’re thinking about
just that or we wouldn’t be making those New Year’s resolutions
about giving up angel hair pasta or finally taking the trash out on more than
an annual basis. I admit that those are noble aims and aspirations, but when
each day of the Christian life is designed to bring glory to God,
wouldn’t it make more sense to resolve to make deeper and more meaningful
changes in our lives? Let me give you a few examples.
GUEST COMMENT
What
if we resolve to understand and eliminate our tendency to be anxious? Now,
that’s a power-packed resolution. Since God tells us not to be anxious
(Philippians 4:6), we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will empower us to
accomplish this resolution. When we’ve succeeded, this resolution will
have led to a more righteous life and greater glory for God. Now, I admit that
taking out the trash isn’t an insignificant thing, but compare that to
this deeper resolution and you can see how underdeveloped our New Year’s
resolutions are! Let me give you another example.
What if we resolve to understand and eliminate our tendency
to be overly self-reliant? On the surface, it may not seem like such a big
deal, but consider this. Excessive self-reliance encourages excessive
self-focus at the expense of relying upon the Lord and at the expense of
relying on others who’ve been called by God to come alongside us and
share in our efforts (1 Corinthians 12). We rob God of his glory and others of
their intended spiritual development. The body of Christ won’t function
at its highest and best and we will receive no heavenly rewards for deeds done
empowered by the flesh. Now it looks like a pretty big deal doesn’t it?
Wouldn’t this be a great New Year’s resolution? I think it would be
exciting. Let me give you a bit more and then I’ll leave you to ponder
the vast opportunities we could harness with these power-packed resolutions.
What
if we resolved to understand and eliminate our tendency to doubt ourselves? We
would move into the position of a confident Christian, leaving behind excessive
and skeptical self-awareness and making ourselves available to serve the Lord
with certainty and joy. We’d stop investing emotional energies in
worrying that we’re not good enough and invest instead in the thrill of
living worthy because Christ died for us (Ephesians 2). Now, I must say that
angel hair pasta can be a dangerous thing to us and others, but if you had to
choose between resolving to give up spaghetti vs. giving up self-doubt, which
would you choose?
Even in our making New Year’s resolutions, we as
Christians should stand out from the world. As with almost every move we make,
this is just another opportunity to demonstrate Christ to a sick and dying
world for which he gave his life. When you think of it that way, 365 days seems
like a very short time to have an impact on the world. These power-packed
resolutions would most certainly maximize not only our time and efforts on
Christ’s behalf, but his glory as well. So, what do you think? Shall we
resolve to understand and eliminate our tendencies to be controlling, angry,
insecure, perfectionistic, or self-condemning? Or, should we choose other
accomplishments.
There
certainly are reasonable places in making New Year’s resolutions for such
things as reducing our spaghetti intake and increasing our trash outtake, and
it’s true we’re all in process. But, I wonder if it might not be a
good idea to broaden the range of possibilities for change as we move into
another new year. Our New Year’s resolutions could become great tools,
prompting us to maximum growth bringing him maximum glory (Romans 11:36)! So,
what do you think less pasta or less anxiety?
And, oh yes...HAPPY NEW YEAR! I have to
go take out the trash now!
o
Jesse
Dillinger, MA, MFT is director of Jesse Dillinger & Associates (Counseling)
and author of Winning Over Weaknesses.