Heading into the New Year some of us will make some New Year resolutions or at least feel that we should make them. However, like a child’s Christmas toy, they are often pushed off to the side and soon forgotten.
Have you ever stopped to ponder what is really behind our New Year resolutions?
It is the desire to be a better person? Resolutions say that deep down we want to be a more whole person, a more Holy person. We sincerely want to be more decent, more generous, more fulfilled, more spiritual than we are.
To keep our resolutions from becoming like the forgotten Christmas toy, there must be a guiding vision that helps us make lasting and meaningful change.
As we move forward into another year of life and ministry together may the words of the apostle Paul found in Colossians 3:12-17, become our guiding vision for this year as we make or own resolutions!
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. -Colossians 3:12-17 (The Message)
Let us commit to making these words our guiding vision for the new year, and in doing so, may we be able to make lasting resolutions which bring us all to a deeper level of wholeness. I encourage you to post this scripture somewhere, where you will see and read it each day next year.
Comments