Resolve and Commitment

I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions. I have done it in the past at times, but just like everyone else, usually by mid-January I've failed miserably. I wonder why that is so. Is it that we lack perseverance? Do we lack commitment? Whether its weight loss, avoiding chocolate, or attempting to pray more and execute a Bible reading program, we usually look to the new year with optimism that this will be the year we do better. And then, not too far into the new year we're in the same habits and rut that characterized the previous year, and the year before that... and the year before that. I am not sure I have the answer to this phenomenon of continued failed resolutions. Should we just not make them - and then we can't fail? Are our goals too lofty and we set ourselves up for failure? What's the problem?

I might suggest that we have trivialized the word 'resolution'. We make them, we break them. We make them again, we break them again. It's like when you were a teenager and you had 100 different boyfriends or girlfriends. You broke up, dated someone else, dropped them like yesterday's newspaper, picked up someone else, and on and on... 'Resolve' and 'commitment' become trivialized in our culture. So much so, that our desire to read more scripture in the new year gets dropped like a hot potato and replaced by spending hours on the internet. Our desire to commune with Christ in more meaningful prayer gets preempted by the television.

I say that we Christians take back the true meaning of 'resolve' and 'commitment' by making those words ring as true in our lives as something that resembles the strong resolve and commitment that we see in something like a healthy marriage. A couple with a healthy marriage has in no way trivialize the meaning of commitment. Resolve and commitment requires hard work and determination. The disciplines of Bible study and fervent prayer are not for the lazy. If we are not willing to do the hard work required in fulfilling a commitment, then our New Year's resolutions for this year will end up the same way they did in 2008: in disappointment and failure.

This year I want to commit to one theme: stronger commitment to our local church. That would consist of several things: I want to work harder in the areas in which I am already involved. I want to be able to give more. I want to pray for our pastors more. I want to commit more of my time to my fellow worshippers. With God's grace I will not be as ineffective with this year's resolutions as in past years. And with God's grace, neither will you...

Happy New Year,
Mark