What do you resolve to do in 2010??? Many people make New Year's Resolutions (NYR). Of course, it’s the normal thing to do at the beginning of each year. I goggled NYR and found 54,600,000 results. If you’re into them, there’s lots of info out there for you. For myself, I can’t stand NYR!
I stopped making NYR a few years ago. For me, it was a set up to fail. For example, if my NYR was to eat right and lose weight, I would start off strong. I would avoid all tempting foods & places. The first week of January would be easy and I would think, “Wow, this isn’t too bad. I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.” Then the 2nd week would come and I’d do pretty well. Then the 3rd week would come and I’d have an event to attend and eat many of the foods that I avoided the first 2 weeks. I’d feel disappointed and tell myself that it’s okay to take the rest of the month off and start again in February. Then Feb. would come and the vicious cycle started all over again. By March, I called it quits!
The reason why I think they’re a set up to fail is because as the days go on and you get further away from Jan 1 and you haven’t been consistent you think you have to wait until another "big" day to start. For example, if you start on Jan 1 and mess up, I think you’re more prone to say I’ll start again on Feb 1 and so forth. Likewise, if you make your big decision to change on a Monday and fail on Wed., you may say, “I’ll just start again on next Monday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure hundreds of people have made NYR and stuck with them and were very successful. I’m only talking about the rest of us millions of people who’ve made them and failed.
So, what’s one to do? As I’ve mentioned many times in My Freedom Journey, it’s a matter of the heart. I actually started my journey on a Friday night in October ‘08. God called me that night to surrender my will to His and allow Him to do a work in my heart. Of course it would have been great to say that I started that year off right and began my journey on Jan 1, but that’s not the case. It wasn’t til late Oct when I started to see my sin of gluttony as Jesus sees it and my eyes were open to the truth and I desperately wanted to be set free. Has it been easy? NO WAY!!! I still sin in this area, but Praise be to God, I am not enslaved to food anymore.
I stopped making NYR a few years ago. For me, it was a set up to fail. For example, if my NYR was to eat right and lose weight, I would start off strong. I would avoid all tempting foods & places. The first week of January would be easy and I would think, “Wow, this isn’t too bad. I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.” Then the 2nd week would come and I’d do pretty well. Then the 3rd week would come and I’d have an event to attend and eat many of the foods that I avoided the first 2 weeks. I’d feel disappointed and tell myself that it’s okay to take the rest of the month off and start again in February. Then Feb. would come and the vicious cycle started all over again. By March, I called it quits!
The reason why I think they’re a set up to fail is because as the days go on and you get further away from Jan 1 and you haven’t been consistent you think you have to wait until another "big" day to start. For example, if you start on Jan 1 and mess up, I think you’re more prone to say I’ll start again on Feb 1 and so forth. Likewise, if you make your big decision to change on a Monday and fail on Wed., you may say, “I’ll just start again on next Monday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure hundreds of people have made NYR and stuck with them and were very successful. I’m only talking about the rest of us millions of people who’ve made them and failed.
So, what’s one to do? As I’ve mentioned many times in My Freedom Journey, it’s a matter of the heart. I actually started my journey on a Friday night in October ‘08. God called me that night to surrender my will to His and allow Him to do a work in my heart. Of course it would have been great to say that I started that year off right and began my journey on Jan 1, but that’s not the case. It wasn’t til late Oct when I started to see my sin of gluttony as Jesus sees it and my eyes were open to the truth and I desperately wanted to be set free. Has it been easy? NO WAY!!! I still sin in this area, but Praise be to God, I am not enslaved to food anymore.
~
If you choose to make NYR this year, I would suggest you look closely at a sin area in your life. Try these 6 tips:
1) Acknowledge that it is a sin (it’s not just a struggle, stronghold, or weakness).
2) Confess your sin to God.
3) Confess your sin to a trusted friend for accountability.
4) Pray for God’s strength to overcome this area.
5) Write down & memorize verses in the Bible that deal with this specific sin.
6) Constantly remind yourself of the Gospel - who God is, who you are in Him, what He has done for you, and that He is always at work in you!
In this New Year, may Jesus help each of us to, "walk by the Spirit, and not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
1) Acknowledge that it is a sin (it’s not just a struggle, stronghold, or weakness).
2) Confess your sin to God.
3) Confess your sin to a trusted friend for accountability.
4) Pray for God’s strength to overcome this area.
5) Write down & memorize verses in the Bible that deal with this specific sin.
6) Constantly remind yourself of the Gospel - who God is, who you are in Him, what He has done for you, and that He is always at work in you!
In this New Year, may Jesus help each of us to, "walk by the Spirit, and not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
4 comments:
I heard this quote recently...
"The Gospel, not resolutions, is what motivates a believer to pursue a life of holiness" (J Fonville)
Praise God for the Gospel when I fail!
AMEN!!! What a great quote! Thanks Kim!
Amen to all that! - Living moment by moment in faith and through faith finding joy - regardless of our eathly circumstances. Feel free to repost my "What I can Teach my Kids About Being Black" piece. It all belongs to Him.
Dorothy, I enjoyed reading your post on What I can teach my kids about being black. I have a Chinese son with a facial deformity, so in a different kind of way, was helped by your words. Mostly that I don't have to be Chinese, or have a special need, to love him and help him through his pain. And I can listen, as well as teach him what I know about God's character.
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