Resolve to Resolve Differently
Tomorrow begins a New Year, are you ready?
I’ve always been one of those people who finds the motivation to change from imperfection. Maybe you’re like that too. You see something that’s not how it should be and you just want to change it and fix it. (yeah I’m the one who fixes crooked pictures even on the wall of a restaurant haha) The process goes like this. I see something that needs fixed. It bothers me. I get really frustrated. Then I get determined to fix it. So I do.
Well I’m frustrated. Like REALLY frustrated! At all the dumb sinful stupid stuff that we as Christians do! Basically, I’m frustrated with sin. If you think about it, it actually makes sense. Our sins should frustrate and bother us. We certainly shouldn’t be content with them!
Take a second to imagine what life would be like if we could stop messing up. If we could stop being so selfish, ignorant, judgmental, and everything else that we do that’s wrong. It would be HEAVEN! (actually it would be) It’s so good to know that this is in store for us eventually, but isn’t there just some part of you that’s really impatient for it NOW?!
As much as I love my life here on Earth, there’s a part of me that just wants to hit the fast forward button and jump right to the part where we stop being so mean and rude to each other. How nice would that be?
NEWSFLASH! We can start making those changes now!
Story Time With Natalie! This frustration started back when I was reading that book ‘Respectable Sins’ for my class at LBC. (school is over now so this post isn’t for class like my previous ones, but I kept the book and I highly recommend it!) This book goes through all these “subtle sins” that we tolerate in our lives because we either don’t think they’re that big of a deal, or we’re completely ignorant to that fact that we’re committing them. We tend to think we’re doing ok because we aren’t doing those “big sins”, but in reality, we are far from ok. Reading this really opened my eyes to see these things both in the lives of others and my own and it started to frustrate me a little bit.
God was lining this up to be a much bigger deal though because CONNECTION! After a –let’s just call it an unpleasant situation- happened among some people close to me, I was talking with one of my cousins and all of these flaws/bad habits/subtle sins began glaring me right in the face! And it made me so ANGRY! I decided right then and there that I was going to do something about it. So I started praying for change. Hard.
This frustration fueled prayer has been sticking with me for awhile now and then yesterday morning at church, God lined up another connection.
Kim (don’t worry, not a woman pastor, more just a special speaker) gave a super good message about New Year’s resolutions and change in general. She started off with this: “Apart from God, people usually don’t change.” How true is that?! Think about all your past New Year’s resolutions, did you succeed and change or did you fail? Was God on your side as you did it?
If the change you’re trying to make is God honoring, you can bet He’s going to help you. But there’s something else you’ve got to do. PRAY ABOUT IT! If you want change to happen, tell God about it. Ask Him to help you.
Kim went on to share a bit of her testimony and explained how she is living proof of how much God can change somebody. Anyone who knew her before she became a Christian would have never imagined that she could be who she is today and that’s all because of God.
If He can change a life that much, of course He’s able to help you read your Bible more or stop eating ice cream for breakfast. Whatever your New Year’s resolutions may be, He has the power to help you succeed. As Pricilla Shrier said in her Armor of God Bible study, “Prayer is the mechanism that brings down the power of heaven into your existence.” So pray about that resolution!
Does that mean it will be easy? HECK NO! Because just in case you’ve forgotten, SATAN’S A JERK! (see how much of a jerk he is here) He doesn’t want you to succeed and be a better person. He’ll do everything he can to keep you that rude, selfish, lazy person that you’re trying to leave behind. Don’t let him stand in your way! Look him in the eye and say ‘Not today Satan’ and walk right past.
Now this post fits really well with this time of year, but does that mean none of it is relevant if you read this again in 6 months? OF COURSE NOT! I just read a Facebook post the other day by Jordan Lee Dooley and this is exactly what she talks about! She says “why do we wait til a certain date on a calendar to start living intentional lives? Why do we hinge so much of our hard work around that?” Ya know what? She is totally right! January 1st is NOT THE ONLY TIME WE CAN CHANGE! Maybe it’s February 26th or August 11th or some other random day of the year, but if you see something in your life that needs fixed, do it! Don’t just put it off until January because chances are, that problem will just keep getting worse.
In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t try to make all those changes in one day. That is an incredible amount of pressure! Spread it out into little bits. Pray about what needs to change in your life and ask for help to do it.
So I challenge you this New Year’s, instead of just making a list of all the things you want to change this year, really pray about it, figure out what God wants you to change. Then spread it out and change bit by bit. When it gets hard and frustrating, let that become your motivation to keep going and push through. Resolve to resolve differently.
