Hi there, thank you so much for stopping by at the start of this Brand New Year and taking time out of your day to read my blog. It really is appreciated and I hope it makes you think, smile and laugh!
New Year’s resolution : to make none at all!!!! I know that the start of the year is a time for us to reflect on our lives : all good so far, and look to the future (still good!). But New Year Resolutions leave me cold! I’m liking using exclamation marks!!!!
Honestly though, I do believe we are almost ‘doomed to fail’ when we set ourselves tasks, things to be changed, stopped, started on January 1st. We are creatures of habit and it takes an enormous amount of will power to achieve these goals on our own. Thus, for the most part we ‘fail’. Then fall into the trap of guilt, immediately feeling bad about ourselves and from what I can see, spend the rest of the year focusing on what we haven’t achieved. Depressing isn’t it??
So, I don’t set myself New Year Resolutions, as I don’t want to deliberately set out to fail. Is it wrong to have short, medium and long term goals in our lives? No!! So am I contradicting myself? I don’t think so, but you can be the judge of that!
I need to improve in many areas of my life. Some I have control over, others I do not. Experience has taught me that trying to change aspects of me in my own strength, invariably leaves me flat on my face. Do I lack willpower? Yes sometimes, but I used to enjoy long distance running (the mind is still keen, the body has other ideas!) which requires both willpower and stamina. The very tools needed for change!
So I should be equipped to make changes on my own and sometimes I can, but mostly not and especially if I set out to change something about myself on January 1st. Baffling, I know!!!
Since becoming a Christian I have learned, through experience, that it’s actually really hard to try and change things about me in my own strength. God is a God of love and He is also my Heavenly Father, whose desire is that I be the very best person I can be. Not for me, but for Him.
At Christmastime, when we remember the birth of Jesus, God in the flesh, being both fully God and fully Man, born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, we see a true act of sacrifice and love on Jesus’ part.
He came that we might know Him and through Him know God our Heavenly Father. Jesus lived on this earth, just like any other ordinary person. He received no special treatment, even though He is the King of Kings. In fact, He was despised by many and eventually crucified. In His death He showed the ultimate sacrifice. He took the weight of sin (wrong doing) for all the people of the world, both past, present and future and was punished, for us.
3 days later, He arose from death, once and for all, not only having paid the price for sin (which is death), but breaking it’s hold over us, with Life.
So how does this relate to New Year Resolutions? Well, our God is a mighty God of Strength, Power and Love. Jesus said “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.”
Firstly God wants us to know Him through His Son JESUS. Jesus came that we may know God’s love. That we may know the Way to God and God’s Will for us and that we might live, knowing the full Truth. That God is Real. He loves us more than we could ever, ever imagine and He wants to be part of our daily lives.
Not to boss us around and give us a list of rules and regulations that we must live by. But that we would know Him and His love and forgiveness and live in the light of that knowledge.
So when I try to do things in my own strength, I do not have a very high success rate – hence not making New Year Resolutions! Instead I have learned to lean on God. To ask Him to help me in areas that I need to improve (way, way too many to mention here – patience, humility, patience – to start off) and you know, when I ask Him to help, He does!
I no longer carry the burden of trying to change or improve myself, instead my load is lightened. Gradually, day by day, He helps me become a better version of myself. I still have a long, long way to go. But that’s ok! I’m loved, forgiven and accepted, just as I am.
If you are finding it hard to stick to a New Years Resolution, there is an easier way. Firstly God loves and accepts you, just as you are, right now, at this very moment. He wants you to know Him, through His Son Jesus.
If you ask Jesus to show you the way He will. No matter what you have done in your life, you are loved. If you accept JESUS as your Lord and Saviour ( He paid the price, on the cross, for everything you’ve done wrong and saved you from the penalty of that wrong doing, which is death and eternal separation from God) ask for His forgiveness, then you will truely be free.
Free to live the life God has planned for you. Knowing, beyond all shadow of doubt that you are loved, accepted, forgiven by His endless Mercy, Grace and Love. Wow! What a gift and it’s free!
So, I urge you, not to resolve to change yourself on your own, but to reach out to JESUS. He loves you soo much and once you know Him your life will take on a whole new perspective.
Thankyou for reading, if you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will get back to you ASAP.
Love Sammie xxxx