No, dear brothers and sisters, I
am still not all I should be,
but I am focusing all my energies
on this one thing:
forgetting the past and looking
forward to what lies ahead,
I strain to reach the end of the
race...
Philippians 3:13-14
January 4, 2014: a little
late, some would say, for making New Year’s Resolutions, but my attitude is – better late than never! It is still the beginning of a new year –
a time when we often think about what we could / should do differently in our
lives.
This year, I am only going to make two (2) resolutions. Yes – you read that right. Just two.
Mind you, that does not mean that there are only two things in my life
that need changing! There are actually
more than two CATEGORIES of things that need changing. There is my HEALTH (diet, stress, anxiety
levels, etc.), FITNESS (diet (again!), exercise, etc.), ATTITUDES, OUTLOOK,
DREAMS, and so forth. I could go on and
on. But I have found that the more
resolutions I write down at the beginning of a new year, the more resolutions I
abandon within a month or two of the starting date.
Therefore, my two resolutions are relatively basic, and come from
the words of Christ Himself:
1 Resolution #1: Love
the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and
with all my strength. Mark 12:30
I do love God – and I know He knows
that. But somehow these words of Jesus
seem to mean much more than our cultural understanding of “love” would indicate. Jesus
said, “Hey – don’t just ‘love’ God
(like you ‘love’ your cat, or a good
bowl of pasta), but put everything you have into it!”
Heart
the
seat of my emotions
Soul the
seat of my faith
Mind the
seat of my intellect
Strength the seat of my physical self
Loving God through all of these avenues is so
much more than a tacit acknowledgement that I care about Him. It involves continuity, commitment, compassion
and challenge. It is taking my relationship
with God to the next level in 2014. The old What
Would Jesus Do? campaign might have gone “out of style,” but it is never
irrelevant for my day-to-day life.
2 Resolution
#2: Love my neighbor as myself. Mark
12:31
Have you ever noticed that Jesus did not
direct us to love our neighbor with all of our heart, soul, mind and
strength? No – instead He asked us to
love our neighbors (every human being surrounding us) as much as we love
ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I
am very attached to this being called “myself.”
And I (try to) exercise my heart,
soul, mind and strength to take care of “me” – someone that I would like to
have around for a long time! So if I am
going to love you like I love myself, I will need to be very interested in your
welfare as well.
What
Would Jesus Do? becomes a relevant question for this resolution as well –
although it will take a lot of discipline to have that question come to mind
before irritation or unkindness pours out of my mouth. When I am the recipient of a thoughtless word,
an unkind action, a mean cut, or a selfish act (on the road, in the grocery
store, or in just about any circumstance imaginable), my first concern is
usually for myself with little thought process for the other person. What if my first thought was concern for the
other person? That would be something
new in my life!
I have asked God to assist me in my 2014 New Year’s
resolutions, for I’m fairly certain that otherwise they will just fade into the
sunset. I am really looking forward to
this New Year, and I am excited to partner with God to love Him more
completely, and to show true kindness and compassion for those who cross my
pathway.
The unfailing love of the LORD
never ends!
By his mercies we have been kept
from complete destruction.
Great is his faithfulness; His
mercies begin afresh each day.
Lamentations 3:22-24
