Resolutions

“Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.”  Proverbs 16:3

We like to make resolutions for the New Year.  These are plans which we believe will improve our lives.  Long before this tradition was established, God gave us a formula for success.  Put God’s work first and the rest will follow.

Everybody Gets a Bonus

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9

Earthly thinking says you get what you earn.  If you get an “A” on your report card, Dad gives you $10.00.  If you are a boss and do a great job for your company, you get a bonus.  However, sometimes no matter how hard we work, we don’t get any rewards.  That does not seem fair does it?

With God, all of us qualify for His bonus plan, not because we have earned it, but because it is free.  Isn’t that great?  We all get something.  And that something is so good, that it revolutionizes our life for all eternity.

We serve a generous God. 

Trouble Is No Trouble To God

“They cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distress.”  Psalm 107:13

One night I was driving home with my teenage daughter.  I was clipping along at 50 mph.  Then on the road right in front of us, I saw a three foot high pile of dirt.  I screamed, “Save us, Jesus.” 

I swerved and missed the pile of dirt.  When I regained my composure, I said to my daughter, “Don’t scream in the car.”

She said, “Mom, you were the one who screamed.” 

That’s the way God is, even when we are not really paying attention to Him, He is paying attention to us.   When we cry out to Him, He saves us. 

Imitators of God

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, in an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” 

Ephesians 5:1-2.

What does it mean to walk in love?  Does it mean we have to let other people walk all over us?  No.  It means that whatever we do, we do it in a spirit of love.  It does not mean we will be popular or that we have to be nice to those who really don’t need being nice to.

As Christians, we must speak out against wrong, but we are to do it in a manner that addresses the problem as a problem, and offers the perpetrator an opportunity to correct the error of his ways.  This is what God did for us.  He called us from our lives of sin, to a new life forgiven by Jesus. 

Dare To Be Holy

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix all your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.’” 

1 Peter 1:14-1

People sometimes say they don’t want to be Christians because they will have to give up too much – meaning give up their sinful lifestyles which they know are sinful.  What they don’t realize is that there is so much to gain from becoming a Christian, that the old lifestyle is not missed.  Once we make up our minds to change, the rest comes easy. 

It is easier to be holy than to be sinful.  

Wisdom From Above

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”  James 3:17-18.

Are you wondering if it is from God?  This is a good test.  If you are not at peace with a decision, then perhaps you need to reconsider.