A New Year’s Resolution Worth Keeping

As I opened my newspaper this morning I saw there was an “Aldi’s” ad in it. I love Aldi’s ads – you never know what amazing special buys they might have. But when I looked at it I realized I should have known what would be there: it was all exercise equipment and low fat meals. It’s that time of the year again – when we all make new year’s resolutions and one of the most popular is to eat better and exercise. There are many great deals on exercise equipment out there.

Now I don’t want to put these resolutions down – many of us, especially me, need to make these resolutions and do our best to keep them. But when I see these sales I think that there is a resolutions that I think if far more important, a resolution with eternal benefits. A resolution that chooses the better thing – the thing that can’t be taken away (Luke 10:38-42). This is the resolution to sit at the feet of Jesus. A resolution to spend more time knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, and following Jesus. For those of us who seek spiritual matters I think there can be no better thing than to be devoted to Jesus and being devoted to knowing Him more. And devotion takes time and effort, and so many of us struggle in this area. So here are three resolutions to make that many of us need to make:

1. Pray more.

I saw a skit about prayer many years ago. The skit compared praying to breathing. It was funny with segments about people who take a long time to breath, breath in groups and so on. But the ending was powerful for me: If we quit breathing, we die. I believe when we quit praying be begin to die spiritually. Prayer needs to be our spiritual breath. Prayer isn’t about just asking God for things. It is communing with God. Prayer can, and should, include worship, thanksgiving, petition, and even silence. Faithful prayer can change a day. (see Philippians 4:6-7).

One of the problems of trying to pray more is so often we are inspired by a person’s testimony about how they prayed in some amazing way, and then we try to be like them and fail and get discouraged. My story is that when I was a young Christian I heard a Martin Luther quote that goes something like “I have so much to do today I must get up three hours early to pray for the day.” (I’ve heard many variations of this quote since then so I’m not so sure what is the correct quote). I heard this at church when I was in college not long before finals, so I decided to apply the quote and I began rising 3 hours early to pray. At first it went well but then I began finding it a burden. Not that it was a burden to pray, but it was a burden to rise at 2:30 AM every morning. That’s when I realized that it’s not how much I pray, rather it is important that I pray. As often as I can.

So what to do? Take steps you can handle and take time to grow! I once read a booklet titled “7 minutes with God.” If you rarely pray or you only pray before tests and meals, then maybe 7 minutes of prayer in the morning would be a great place to start. My personal experience is the more I pray, the more I want to pray. 7 minutes will soon seem to short of a time. Then it’s time to find more time to pray. Maybe add evening prayers to your morning prayer routine, or find a prayer partner to pray with, or join a weekly prayer meeting, or take 5 minutes out of a lunch break to slip away and pray, or – what are your ideas?

The point is can you imagine the impact in this world if we all made the resolution to pray more. The Bible is full of verses about prayer (Some of my favorites are Matthew 7:7-11; James 1:5; 1 John 5:14-15) and is full of examples of prayerful people (Nehemiah, Daniel, Jesus, and Acts 4 always come to my mind).

2. Read the Bible more.

“and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:15-17.

This is one of the first Bible verses I memorized. It really says it all:

• The Bible makes us wise for salvation.
• The Bible is breathed by God.
• It is useful for teaching.
• It is useful for rebuking. (rebuking me!)
• It is useful for correcting.
• It is useful for training in righteousness.

The Bible is these things SO THAT God’s people (literally the Man of God) may be thoroughly equipped for EVERY good work.

Need we say anything else? If you want to be thoroughly equipped then read the Bible more!

Yet for so many of us the Bible is only an accessory in our hands for when we go to church. We have the words of life and yet we don’t have the time to read them. It’s like walking around with a See’s California Brittle candy in our hand while wishing we had some chocolate to eat. It doesn’t make sense. (For those not from the West coast – See’s candy is the best chocolate and the California brittle is my personally favorite.)

So, another great resolution is to read our Bibles more often. There are so many books to read that will help us know how to read the Bible, but my favorite way is to just start reading and trust the Holy Spirit to guide us (and then seek friends to help us answer our questions.)
Here’s a simple system:

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and help you understand
2. Pick a whole book of the Bible and commit to read all the way through it over the next few months. If you are new to reading the Bible pick a narrative book, like any of the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
3. Read what feels like one story or section. Don’t worry about the chapters, just read what feels right.
4. Answer these questions: Who is there? What is happening? Where is it happening? When is it happening? Writing it down helps.
5. Now ask “What do I learn about Jesus? What do I learn about God? Is there a command I should follow? Is there a promise here for me?”
6. What are you going to do about what you have learned? Write down what difference this lesson will make in your life. Make sure you include an “Action Step” so you can take action on what you are learning.
7. Write down any questions you might have. Ask your friends these questions or post it on facebook and see what answers you get (make sure you check with your most experience friends on what you are learning). Later in life you might want to buy some good books to help you do research – like a Bible dictionary (you can also search the web – there are some decent free Bible dictionaries out there.)
8. Again, you don’t need to feel you must spend a lot of time on this. Enjoy it and let that set the time for it. Maybe start with another 7 minutes. Maybe you’ll have to read the same passage many days in a row to understand it all. I think that is actually a fun read to really dig into the Bible. What are some deeper truths.

One final comment – small groups with friends, official or unofficial, are a great way to dig into the meaning of the Bible – don’t deprive yourself the opportunity to study the Bible with your friends!

3. Serve more. (Matthew 25)

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:40

Jesus says what we do for others we do for Him! We see Jesus when we help others. Who are the people around you that need your help? Who are the people in your community that would benefit from some time you can give? It can be time. It can be money. But if you have the time and ability to read a blog, you probably have the time and resources to serve others.

How can you help the homeless?

How can you help schools? (did you know they need people to read to kids?)

How about helping the elderly in nursing homes?

There is so much we can do – and in doing it we serve Jesus and grow closer to Him!
If you don’t know what to do, check out the Cobblestone Project: http://www.cobblestoneproject.org/Home.aspx

Those are just three ideas. There are so more. I pray you will enjoy all your New Year’s resolutions and that we all will know Jesus better. (see Eph. 1:17)