A Resolution

THIS WEEK was the last week of the year, and today we started a new one. I say before we jump into January, why don't we sit and think about what we are thankful for from the last year?

I'm thankful for my graduation from high school and a good first semester of college, for all the new friends I've been making, for the salvation of so many people when my team went to Peru in June, for more joy than sorrow, for the important lessons I have learned, for my watch and my phone, that the doctors caught Grandma's cancer early, and that whenever I go home my whole family is still there. But most of all I'm thankful that no matter how I feel or what I do, Jesus is there when I wake up in the morning, the same as He was yesterday and last year, and He always will be. I'm thankful that God is faithful to us. I'm thankful for all He has planned for this new year He has given us.

Many of us will be laying out New Year's Resolutions this month in an effort to improve ourselves and our lives. Most will pick resolutions concerning weight loss or bad habits. The majority of us won't make it past January, let alone the whole year. That's because our focus is usually off.

If we are going to make a resolution, let's make one that's really important. Let's make one that we should be making each morning all over again.

My friend Ellie sent out a text reminding our life group of the greatest commandment according to Jesus. She quoted Matthew 22:37-38: "[37] Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' [38] This is the first and great commandment.""

It's pretty simple, right? If we are going to resolve to do something, let's love God more. Let's seek Him harder and pursue Him more persistently. Every other change that needs to be made will be a result of loving Him more, because when He corrects us we adjust out of love and devotion.

It is as simple as waking up in the morning, but it is no picnic to follow Jesus. As my pastor explained today, following Him means choosing to obey Him rather than seeking to please the world. It means that as we honor both God and men, we are concerned about pleasing Him and are never ashamed of Him. It means we do everything we do for the glory of God. Jesus explains this in Luke 9:23: "Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'"

Following Christ is a daily decision that we make when we let Him be the Lord of our lives and choose to obey what He tells us in His word.

The root of the word "Resolution" is "Resolve." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Resolve" means "A fixity of purpose." A synonym is "Resoluteness," which means "Marked by firm determination," "Bold," or "Steady." In Luke 9:62, Jesus makes it clear that He wants us to be resolute about following, and not have our feet in two different canoes: "But Jesus said to him, 'No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'"

That doesn't mean God gives up on us when we make mistakes. It means He wants us to follow Him wholeheartedly, and we can't do that when we are looking backwards. We won't get anything done for the kingdom if we aren't devoted to the King.

In 2 Samuel 24 we read that King David made a mistake and disobeyed God, and He punished him for it with a plague. But after a while He showed David and his people mercy, and out of repentance David sought to build an altar. He went to buy the threshing floor of Araunah, where he had seen the Angel of God, but Araunah wanted to give it to him for free. David insisted.

2 Samuel 24:24, "Then the king said to Araunah, 'No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price: nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver." So God took away the plague and listened to David's prayers.

God didn't care how much David spent on his purchase, but He cared that David understood that worship means withholding nothing from Him. When we want to serve God wholeheartedly, it comes at a cost to us. When we have to give up desires and influences that keep us from coming closer to Him, we gain much more in finding Him and in finding who we are in Him.

I am excited to see what God does this year. I hope we can all follow through with a resolution to seek God more and find Him more, asking the Holy Spirit to bring us closer to His heart despite the times we will fall. Undoubtedly we will be amazed at what will happen.