My New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year to you all! I pray that for each of you it will be a happy one full of surprises from the Lord. I hope it will have lots of smiles, laughter and love. I hope many, many good memories are made and shared for years to come.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? How long do they last?

To answer my own questions…

Yes. I make New Year’s resolutions. They last about one week. haha And that’s in a good year.

One I make every year is to be more godly. More godly…that sounds so…vague. How does one become more godly? Hmmm…

Well, let me tell you what our preacher shared with us.

God knew man would make New Year’s resolutions, so He decided to help us out a bit. He made 7 resolutions for us in Ephesians 5-6:9. That’s all of chapter 5 through 6:9.

Here they are. Ready?

Resolve to…

1. Love as Christ loved. (5:1-2) Be intentional about this, especially to those whom you find hard to love. (How did you like my proper use of whom? Surprised me too!) Deliberately do something kind for them. Deliberately do something kind for your loved ones too. Just decide to love everyone as Christ loved. No excuses!
2. Pursue holiness. (5:3-7) Take a good hard look at the sin in your life. Ask God to help you detect and hate any sin in your life.  When convicted, repent. Desire to become known as a virtuous man or woman, someone of noble character.
3. Witness boldly. (5:8-14) I’m not talking going door-to-door knocking, but let your character be so different and Christlike that people take notice. I once taught with a lady that when asked if she wanted to hear a joke, she would always ask if it was dirty. If it was she politely declined and went on her merry way. That spoke volumes to me!!  Know when to confront other Christians about sin in their lives, but always with love. Know when it is best not to say anything, because they may receive it as “preachy” and not listen. Always be ready to share Jesus. Be open to opportunities.
4. Seek the Lord more fervently. (5:10,17,18)  I know I need to spend more time in His word. It has been a while since I have read through the Bible. I’m have decided to do that again. I am going to buy more Bible study books to read.
5. Make worship a priority, both privately and corporately. (5:19-29) My radio and I will be jammin’ louder and more often this year! I like to listen to The Fish. I added that link so you can listen through your computer if you don’t have a local Christian station. It is contemporary music. I need to go to church on Sunday nights, if for no other reason than to worship.
6. Strengthen marital and family bonds. (5:22-6:4) Relationships take work. A lot of hard work. My Man and I have been through so much in our marriage many wonder how/why we are still together. Wounds have been made, but healing has begun. God’s healing. There is still much work, but I am resolved to do my part. MM has to resolve to do his. God will teach him and me what we need to do. I know some of you are divorced. Reread #1. I am resolved to call my college kids more often. I’m even going to get Skype. They will be so excited. haha
7. Work as unto the Lord. (6:5-9) I tend to be lazy. I tend to do a the minimum amount required.  I tend to put off today what I can do tomorrow knowing that tomorrow never comes. haha Since, I work at home it is easy to do these things. I need to remember that the Lord is my boss.

My resolution still is to become more godly and those are the 7 things I am going to work on. That and… losing weight and… becoming more organized. bahahahahahaha!!! Those two will last about a week! One won’t even last a day if any kind of chocolate is in the house!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Love ya,

Jayne