New Year, Fresh Start, Renewed Resolution
The reason I’m talking about this is because we’re just starting a New Year. A time for fresh starts. A time for resolutions.
Resolution – The act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc. The mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; absolute firmness of purpose.
How many of us actually make resolutions that fit the definition above? I know I fall short time after time. Israel made a resolution in Joshua 24:14-24. Joshua came before the people of Israel and called for them to put away the gods of the nations that surrounded them, and serve the one true God. On more than one occasion Israel unanimously exclaims that they were indeed resolved to serve LORD. Talk is cheap though. Anyone can stand up passionately after a good speech and say words, but resolution happens in the mind AND heart. You have to be determined to make that action stay true everyday no matter what.
Generations after, in I Kings 18, there was another speech given. This time it was the prophet Elijah imploring the people of Israel to choose God over the false god Baal, and verse 21 states, “But the people said nothing.” How do you go from screaming out in one voice, “WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!” to saying absolutely nothing? I’ll tell you how. Israel began to embrace the world. Israel attempted to keep God’s Law and the world’s pleasures. Obviously, God’s law lost that fight.
Did it happen over night? Of course not. Did all of Israel decide this path at the same time? Not at all. It happened over time. Little by little. Person by person. Family by family. And this is how Satan gets us to trick ourselves. “Well I’m not as bad as THAT person.” “Well I’m such a good Christian in all these other areas, God will understand.” “Well I’m not perfect like God, so what do you expect? He’s asking to much of me.” Never be fooled into thinking that God uses a balance when measuring our lives. 50% bad and 50% good do not even out in His book. James 3:11 states that salt water and fresh water cannot come from the same well. We cannot seek after the things of God, while still remaining a tight grip on the things of the world. Our relationship with Christ will suffer each time.
What are you holding onto? What life are you trying to live? Have you hit a stop spiritually? Maybe it’s because you’re not letting something go. New Year is a great time for a new resolution. A mental and heart determination to do something right. Don’t take what the world has given you into 2012. Leave it right here in 2011, and determine, resolve to please only Christ.
Pastor Jeremy
