GOD DOESN'T WANT RESOLUTIONS-HE WANTS RENEWAL

Henry and Richard Blackaby have written:
"Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder ... if you really love Him, your service for Him in the new year will
be of the quality He desires."

My "my new year" began around 3:30 this morning. I wasn't up particularly late New Year's Eve and normally this is when I awaken and begin my day. Not too many others are up at that hour and I try not to make too much noise lest I disturb my wife, who sleeps until at least 8:30-9:00 am if she can help it. So I went to Facebook to get caught up on friends around the country.

Typically, New Year's Resolutions was the theme for the first day of the year. There were a number of offerings, but none more extensive nor more creative than that of my brother-in-law Bosie Martin of Columbia, South Carolina. Among his resolutions:

HEALTH ----
* Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.
* Make time to pray.

PERSONALITY ----
* Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
* Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
* Dream more while you're awake.

SOCIETY ----
* Each day give something good to others.
* Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Keep in touch.

LIFE ----
* Do the right thing!
* Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.
* When you wake alive in the morning, thank God for it!

A lot of wisdom there and I suspect, a good pattern by which to live in 2010. But in my morning quiet time, I came across the above comment from the Blackabys based on Jesus' question to Simon Peter, following Peter's betrayal of Jesus. Having basically blown it, Peter was given a chance to start over (sort of like a new year) and Jesus asked "Do you love me?" Actually it became three questions boiling down to essentially this, "Do you love me more than anything else?" In each case Peter answered in the affirmative, and in each case Jesus said "Care for my people, take care of those I love and care for."

We all make resolutions--and most of us break them or forget them within weeks of making them. Usually the more complicated, the more likely they are to fail. So perhaps the best way to sum up our strategy for the new opportunities of a new year is simply "to serve one another out of the love of Christ" and see what results.