Over the years, I have made many New Years Resolutions. Fortunately, because I played sports, losing weight has only been a recent resolution. I never smoked, so that one wasn't an issue either. But there was one resolution that I have made year after year, and it can be summed up in one word: Consistency.
That's it! The one word that I wish described my relationship with Christ. I have never been as consistent as I should be when it came to my belief in Christ. It doesn't matter what area of inward discipline you may list, I guarantee you I struggle with consistency in it. Prayer, quiet time, personal Bible study, forgiveness, sharing my faith, tithing. You list it, I have probablyhave made some type of New Years resolution concerning it.
But something changed in this area a few years ago. I came across a verse that helped me realize that I was approaching this New Years thing all wrong. The passage was II Corinthians chapter 5. It reads like this:
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This was a breakthrough for me. It literally freed me from makeing commitments and not keeping them. You see, resolutions are self improvements for self sake. In other words, I was simply trying to improve myself, for myself. I mean really, how much more selfish can I get. But reconciliations are for others. Paul writes in the above passage, that you and I are in the "reconciliation" business. Our job, as believes in Christ, is to reconcile others to God through Christ. What a great place to live. What a great job to have. What a wonderful New Years commitment to make.
Verse 18! All of this is from God, who reconciled himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting man's sins against him. WOW!! And the best part about that verse is that God has invited us to JOIN HIM in the family business.
This year, forget the resolution. Yea, I need to lose some weight. Sure, I hope to run that 5K without stopping. Its true, I plan on loving, caring, and sharing myself more. But more than anything, I plan on reconciling myself to the ministry of reconciliation, so that others may be reconciled to God through Christ in me.
Happy New Years!