New Year's Resolutions, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:7-14

31:7 For thus says the Lord: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, "Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel."
31:8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
31:9 With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
31:10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
31:11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
31:12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again.
31:13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
31:14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.

Our scripture in Jeremiah speaks of coming home, of freedom from captivity, to be once more at liberty to plant and to grow and to enjoy the fruits of our own labor, praising God for His blessings of freedom and the opportunity to be what we are, blessed of God with promise.
Even so do we in this age look forward to the this man-designated segment of time before us -- a new year; 52 weeks within which God has given us another opportunity to "get it right," freed from the old mistakes, the false starts, the unplanned disasters of this past year.
This new year is like an unspoiled country into which we enter full of hope and promise, looking forward to the blessings of the God who loves us, cares for us, and already knows every step of the future before us. And so we plan how we might best use this new year to accomplish goals, to fulfill principles set before us. Does God expect us to chart our own course through this new year, or to simply fall in line with His plans?

The making -- and breaking -- of resolutions with which to begin the new year is a tradition so old no one really knows where it began. But many of us tend to look at the beginning of a new calendar year as an opportunity to start fresh, to leave the old practices behind, to draw a line in the sand and say, here is where we begin anew, afresh, with new priorities.
Not everyone, of course, takes the making of New Year resolutions seriously. Mark Twain said of the practice, "New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
Andre Gide questioned whether one could seriously make new year resolutions after the age of 40 when so many of us live according to the habits of a 20-year-old.
Then there was the fellow who prayed on that first morning of the New Year, "Dear Lord, so far this year I've done well. I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on I'm probably going to need a lot more help."
Some will say this exercise of making new resolutions is focusing too much on ourselves, that we should simply stand and allow God to set our priorities, make up our list of resolutions for the year ahead. Which would be fine if God had said He was willing to make every decision in our life for us. But He has endowed us with free will for a purpose, and expects us to exercise it.
Recently a man and woman lost their house to the bank because she would not make the mortgage payments. She kept telling her husband, whom she was divorcing so he was not living in the house, that God would make the payments for her. Which is all well and good if God has said He would do that. It came as a surprise only to her when the bank repossessed the house.
Okay, so if God is not going to make every decision for us, it behooves us to apply such principles as the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), with guiding precepts that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Then, of course, we have what society often refers to as "the Golden Rule", which actually stems from Luke 6:31, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." That's good guidance for deciding priorities.
After all, our resolutions for actions during the New Year would naturally be grounded in our priorities. So let's ask ourselves, first, do our goals actually reflect our priorities? And are those priorities in synch with our faith and obedience to Almighty God?
Those priorities we are setting, do they agree with such directions from God as Matthew 6, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"?
Admit it, our commitment would so much easier be directed to the ways to achieve that new weight loss and that buff new physique. Or laying out the steps leading to that new car, those new kitchen cabinets, or how to go about adding those new workshop tools to our inventory. But although the very life we live in today's society leads us naturally to want more and better, such things have nothing to do with Biblical principles, nothing to do with seeking God; nothing to do with focusing on God and working past the storms the enemy builds around us.
So how do we address this task of setting priorities, and from those, resolutions, within the will of God? Simple, ask Him.
James advises us in James 1:5 that "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." From wisdom supplied by God comes decisions that will stand the test of time and the attack of the enemy.
In addition to bringing into play the will of God and the wisdom of God in our decision-making and planning, we also need to keep our plans in context. For although it may seem at times as thought the world revolves around us, as followers of Jesus Christ it really is not about us. It is about Him. Our plans, our decisions, our actions, even our thoughts, need to be part of the fabric of His will spread across the believers of our home, our community, our city, state, and nation. We are part of the context of His will, which is the primary reason our plans and actions need to agree with and be within the parameters of the plans He has for us.
In fact, God has said it very plainly in Jeremiah 29:11 -- "I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you."
So I put the question to you, who are you? Do you understand your position within the plan of God? When you consider yourself, do you see yourself according to what you do, your dreams for the future, how you earn a living, the work you do for profit and for hobbies, perhaps seen through the eyes of others, for the benefit of others, or according to how you see God leading you as He gives you light to see?
Our lives have significance according to how we relate to God, how we relate to others, how we relate to God's purposes for us. If we live only for ourselves, our lives will impact ourselves and few others. Our life is not about us, but about God's will for us. As Almighty God, His foresight, His planning and involvement in our lives is what the military calls a "force multiplier." What we could accomplish with our lives, what impact we might have on our own, equates to the difference between starvation and abundance where those around us are concerned. What we can do for others, and what God can do through us really has no comparison. Why would we not want to "plug in" to the greatest power in the universe and make the best use of the talents and capabilities with which He has endowed us?
We seek His face, His wisdom and His purpose for us so our identity as His creation with God-given talents and responsibilities sets the framework for the goals He would have us accomplish. Then we can set those exciting resolutions in place that will get us there, with our commitment, our prayer, and the guidance He has promised us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Begin setting your goals, and your New Year's resolutions to reach those goals, with prayer, with drawing near to Christ, seeking to know God's will.
In this way, we follow daily in the footsteps of Jesus, under His superior tutelage through the Word, toward the goals God has set for us. What a stimulating and exhilarating way to enter the New Year! Never a dull moment with God, praise His name!
Amen.

Daily Scripture Readings for January 3-9, 2011
Monday -- John 15:12-17
Tuesday -- 1st Thessalonians 1:2-10
Wednesday -- Isaiah 42:1-9
Thursday -- Luke 10:1-12
Friday -- 1st Peter 2:1-10
Saturday -- Colossians 3:12-17
Sunday -- Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12