New Year’s Resolutions! They’re a tradition! January after January, year after year, we celebrate the beginning of the year by making our “New Year’s Resolutions.” Most of us have a list of bad habits we want to break, good ones we hope to start — ways to “improve” ourselves in the New Year! Maybe it is to “stop smoking,” “start exercising,” “lose ten pounds,” or “get that raise!” Some of us even plan a strategy or map out a “game plan” for accomplishing these goals. We may start out strong, but by the end of January most of us have either begun falling behind or given up completely.
The problem is not our lack of self-control or discipline or even our goal-setting techniques; the problem is with the resolutions! We list things we want to do, instead of considering the person we want to become; we focus on improvement instead of transformation, and we attempt to change our conditions through willpower instead of spiritually altering our character. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (NIV)
The Bible tells us that our goal, our “resolution,” is to show the world around us how wonderful God is by how we live and by becoming more and more like Christ Himself. But no amount of resolutions or goal setting can accomplish this kind of “change of character.” This kind of transformation can only be accomplished by allowing the Holy Spirit to alter the way we think, and feel, and act. WE can’t cause this change on our own, but we can take steps that help prepare us for the Holy Spirit’s “make-over” work in us! Over the next few days we will look at those steps and prepare for a new kind of New Year's Resolution ... a New Year's Transformation!
Holy Spirit, I welcome your make-over for me this next year. Help me to grow more and more like Christ. Amen
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