Replacing Resolutions

Those New Year's resolutions are a few days old and some have already been broken while others are beginning to be in doubt of keeping. A few will actually keep them up but many will stack them up on the pile of unmet good intentions. The trouble with resolutions is that you have to be resolute, unwavering in your commitment and we tend to waiver a bit if not a bunch.

So what are we to do, forget about dropping our bad habits and replacing them with good ones?  No, I'm not suggesting that, I would propose that we pass on making pronouncements of change and instead just work on making progress. What I am suggesting is replacing resolutions of what you are going to do with a goal of what you will be working toward.

A resolution can be broken with one failed day of keeping it while a goal can still be before you even when you have failed on a particular day. You simply refocus and keep pressing toward it regardless of weak or failed attempts. Any movement toward a goal is progress.

For instance, instead of resolving to read the Bible from cover to cover this year, how about making it a goal to become one "whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night" (Ps 1:2)?  With that as your goal, you begin to increase your time in the word and allow it's transforming power to begin working on you.

With the goal of becoming one who lights in God's Word, you can begin reading it, listening to audio renderings while you exercise or drive to work, talking more about it - making it a more integral part of your day rather than setting yourself up to fail in an attempt to just get through it this year, which, by the way, may push you away in frustration instead of drawing you nearer.

Rather than try to insert a change into our lives, I challenge us to work toward change having set a goal of becoming rather than doing. In particular, setting a goal of becoming one who delights in the Lord's Word will have the effect of drawing you closer to Him and The Lord drawing closer to you: "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (Js 4:8).

Don't fall into a resolution trap that relies on your ability to insist upon and force change,,Set a goal before you of drawing and being drawn closer to God in which the Lord p's power to transform is the power upon which you rest. Jus' Say'n.