Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin
The end of this year, 2013, should find you a better person. You should end the year better than you started, but the only way you can be a better person at the end of this year is to make a positive change now. When we think about New Year's resolutions, we normally thank about starting to practice positive new skills. We may talk about working out, taking more vitamins, or getting more sleep. We all try each year to make positive changes in our lives.
To this day, I have never heard a person that says," I plan to add negative new skills to my life this year. I think that I will try to get less sleep each night". We may also think about changing bad habits. We may talk about eating better so we can lose weight. We may talk about quitting smoking. We may also talk about treating others better. All of these resolutions are good, but most of the time they cover physical issues. God does not mind us making positive changes in our physical life. In fact the bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
We need to honor God with our bodies. It is important that we take care of them, but this year we need to make better, more spiritual resolutions. We need to make changes that have eternal consequences. You need to be a better you at the end of this year. God is calling us to make New You resolutions.
Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
2 Corinthians 7:1
God is calling us to purify ourselves by removing the things that contaminate our body and our spirit. We need to take a good look at our lives and figure out where we are in our spiritual journey. At the beginning of this year, we need to take an inventory of the issues that are holding us back from being the person that God wants us to be. We need to make a New You resolution to stop looking at our circumstances, looking at the issues of others, trying to fix other people’s issues, and being keepers and teachers of the law.
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
Philippians 4:11
It is true that looking at our circumstances holds us back from all that God has for us. We tend to look at the negative circumstance around us and let them dictate how we feel about our life. Have you ever started a day when a problem happens first thing in the morning? When this happens, we normal announce that the rest of the day is going to be bad. Then we proceed to have a bad day. When we look at our circumstances, we take our eyes off the real changes that need to be made in our life. We need to be content with our circumstances.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Luke 6:41
We also tend to look at the issues of others, and this distracts us from become the person we were meant to be. When we have our eyes on others, we have no time for our own resolutions. When we compare our strengths to the weaknesses of other, we have a false sense of superiority. When we compare our weaknesses to the strengths of other, we have a false sense of inferiority. There is no good way to compare ourselves to others and become successful. Each person is unique and has unique issues and gifting. It is a waste of our time to look at other's issues. We need to spend our time working on our own issues.
Another distracting problem we tend to have is trying to fix other people's problems. When we look at our friend's or enemy's lives, we tend to try to fix their issues. I believe that we do this because it is easier to give advice to others. We give them advice and that is all we have to do. We do not have to do anything else; we just watch the issue and make comments. God is calling us to make resolutions that cause positive changes in our life. We need to strive toward the high calling that is in Christ Jesus. We need to work on resolving our own problems.
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Galatians 2:19-21
We could talk for hours about the does and don't of Christianity. I could come up with a long list of things that you should do. I could even come up with a longer list of sins. We could follow the letter of the law as they did in the Old Testament, but it would not make us a better person inside. If we become keepers and teachers of the law, we make the Christ's death less important. We would be following the letter of the law but not the intent of it.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Matthew 23:25-26
The law was created for man, but I would like to suggest a better guidance system. It says in Romans 8:12-14: "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."
We are called to live by the spirit. People in the world live by the flesh. They do whatever they think is right. They use their own logic to justify their action. We have all lived according to the flesh at some time in our life. We have all sinned and fallen short of the kingdom of heaven. We must live by the spirit which requires us to be lead by the spirit. Being lead by the spirit involves two main areas. The spirit can tell you what you should do in your everyday life. The spirit will also let you know when something is wrong in your life.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Romans 8:9-11
So to live by the spirit we must have the spirit living in us. If the spirit is living in us the spirit will lead us in our everyday life. The spirit will help us to purify our lives of all the things that contaminate our spiritual walk.
So today if you want to make New You resolutions, let me make a few suggestions. First, We need to make a New You resolution to stop looking at our circumstances, looking at the issues of others, trying to fix other people's issues, and being keepers and teachers of the law. Second, if you do not have the spirit living in you, make the New You resolution to accept Jesus in to your heart today. Third, make the New You resolution to be lead by the spirit. If you make these New You resolutions, I promise that at the end of this year you will be a better you. These resolutions will cover every area of your life. So join me today in making these New You resolutions, and see how much better you will be by the end of the year!