Let me begin by saying that New Year's Resolutions are not really my thing. I'm sure I made some over the years but like most people, not that I kept any. I do believe we need to regularly determine what we should be doing in and with our lives.
Most people do the resolutions at the beginning of a new year. They seem to most often have to do with health, wealth, time. These seem to be the go to items for most people and then within a short time they have failed to accomplish what they had resolved to do.
Don't get me wrong I am not saying there is anything wrong any of those. Yet, maybe as Christians we should be making resolutions that impact our spiritual life. So when I was thinking about the New Year coming of 2023 I found myself thinking about how we should address the issue from a Scriptural perspective.
We read in John 21:15 that-
When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”—
Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him. The important point to get here is that we do and we will fail Him. Our intentions are pure and our desire is real. However, we ultimately fail Him. Let me share some things that Jesus does not do when we fail Him:
He does not humiliate us
He does not criticize us
He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder
Here is the example. Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had been capable of being Jesus' disciple when he was unfaithful to Jesus in His most crucial hour.
Application:
As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you have failed your Lord in many ways. I know that I have and that is because like you I was:
Perhaps not faithful.
Perhaps disobeyed His word
Perhaps denied Him by the way in the way I live
Jesus will take you aside, as He did Peter but
He will not berate you
He will not humiliate you
He will ask you to examine your love for Him
He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” If your answer, like Peter's, is “Yes, Lord,” He will reaffirm His will for you.
If you truly love Him, you will obey Him John 14:15
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year.
Jesus asks for your love.
If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.
Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year.
In God's Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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