What About Those New Year’s Resolutions?
Did You Make New Year’s Resolutions Last Year?
Did you accomplish them? I have rarely made New Year’s resolutions, knowing that I so often don’t follow through. During a New Years Eve service that I watched on TV a year ago, the speaker emphasized that God was calling His people to take steps toward healthy eating and fitness. I brushed it off, but it stayed in the back of my mind all month. Then in February, the Lord really spoke to me about losing weight. I stepped out in faith, making the commitment and praying that He would enable me to stick with it.
I set a goal to reach a certain weight that was 24 pounds less that what I weighed at the time. As I sought God about this, He brought across my path ways that I could implement a healthy weight loss journey. I’m happy to say that in December I reached this goal. All glory goes to God, for without Him, I couldn’t have done this.
Do You Make Resolutions or Set Goals?
Some people make New Year’s resolutions. Others set goals that they hope to accomplish in the new year. Some do this at the end of the year in preparation for the new year. Others choose to set goals throughout the year. 
Most Resolutions Fizzle Away
It doesn’t matter what words you use to describe your goals or how excited you are while setting them. It’s not unusual for your enthusiasm for goals to fizzle out over time. You’re not alone. Most people never follow through with changes they set out to make. Life is full of distractions and challenges that come along. Reaching goals takes time, energy, and work. It’s easy to give up or just forget our resolutions as we juggle the everyday situations of life.
Does no one really want positive change in their lives? Of course, they do. All people want their lives to change for the better. Desire isn’t the problem. We all have lots of desire. It’s often commitment and diligence that are lacking.
Trying to Do It On Your Own Doesn’t Work Well
Another cause of failure is trying to reach goals in our own strength instead of drawing strength and direction from Jesus. Isn’t this true of our very faith in Christ and daily walk with God? If we are not diligent in keeping our eyes on Jesus, we can easily grow tired of doing the right thing and just fall right back into our old life. Or we can get overwhelmed, feeling like we just can’t accomplish what we set out to accomplish.
If we stop making prayer a part of our days, or …
If we let dust gather on our Bible instead of spending daily time in God’s Word, or…
If we make an extra hour of sleep more important than going to church …
(Well, you get the picture.)
How quickly would we find it more difficult to make right choices? How much easier would it be to focus on the day-in and day-out things of life and let eternity grow fuzzy?
Running the Race of Life
The Bible gives us many reminders to keep our eyes on Jesus and His promises. The book of Hebrews has been speaking to me a lot lately.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.’ Hebrews 10:23, NKJV
Hebrews 11 tells us of real people who had to pursue their goal of living for God every day of their lives without ever being able to see the end results of their faith. Many of them suffered or even died for their commitment to God.
It was like they had to run a race with no finish line in sight.
Here is the advice Hebrews gives us:
“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV
Our journey of faith is like running a race – needing to stay on the course all the way to the end.
So in this new year, let’s recommit to waiting on the Lord for wisdom, guidance, strength, persistence, and endurance. Let’s not skip daily time with Him. Let’s ask Him to show us the resolutions or goals that He has for us this year instead of just coming up with ideas on our own. Once He has shown us these things, let’s commit to them, walking in obedience to Jesus and drawing on the power of His Holy Spirit each day so that we can accomplish them.
If we live our lives in this manner year after year, we can look forward to that day when Jesus will say to us in person, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” That will be pure joy!
This devotion was written by Karen S. Roberts
