Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year's Resolutions: Which are the most important, and achievable?

What's your resolution for the New Near?

Lose weight?
Make more money?
Declutter your Facebook connections?
Write more?
How about Pray More?

Even if you can list all of your goals for the New Year, could you really stick to them? If you fail, will the whole year be a loss? Of all the pressures that come with the closing and opening of a year, which are the post important?

This can easily be answered by another question: Who is the most important? 

You? Your family? Your job? God?

If you chose the first answer, you may be wondering what the whole God thing is about. Check out this page:  http://sweetsouthblog.blogspot.com/p/way-to-heaven.html

"And incidentally, if we please God it doesn't matter whom we displease and if we displease God it doesn't matter whom we please." ~ Dr. Adrian Rodgers

If you chose the last answer, the first place you'll want to go for resolutions is the Bible. Of the things God requires of us, there are a couple passages that jump out at me this New Years Eve. 

Micah 6:8

 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The verse above brings to mind the word "faithfulness." When we think about it, faith has a lot to do with faithfulness. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him." One beautiful thing about this is, if we heed the following verses, the previous will take care of itself. 

Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love means a lot of things. Commitment, sharing, hurting, guarding, living. 
But most of all love is sacrifice. 

My personal New Year's resolution is to be more disciplined in all areas of my life. But in the likely event that I fail, it is a comfort to know that if I love God, which in itself helps me love others, I will have pleased God. And that is true success.

What will you do differently in 2013?