KEY SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 2:1 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.
RELEVANCE
What is your primary determination for 2024—your One Big New Year's Resolution?
Lose weight, get fit, turn the TV off, do more for others, read more Bible, take more walks in the bush or by the sea, show more love to your family?
What will it be? Not one of five, just one to make sure you do it? Have you thought through that yet?
What is it about the turn of the year that gets us making resolutions, despite 97% lasting no more than two weeks? (Sorry. Speaking from experience here!)
People need a starting point for all aims. Mondays are the most popular, followed by New Year's Day, then the day after school holidays. Rarely will we commence on a Wednesday or Thursday. They just don't fit a clean start, do they?
However, the day or time we start has little to do with when we and how finish. The reason we fail within a fortnight is psychological. I think I have mentioned before that there is just as much endorphin excitement in planning a challenge, such as resolving to go to the gym, as there is in the execution—actually going and doing a workout.
This eye-opening fact, which most people are unaware of, is sneaky and erodes our scheme before we get it off the ground. We get so excited about the plan and how great it will be when we've finally achieved it, spending lots of time creating the perfectly designed infallible project, "Oh, I cannot fail with this one!" that it gives us a false sense of achievement.
We've achieved nothing at that stage except writing a few notes, but the euphoria of success is already flooding through us. Wee need it to get us off the ground and running, but It's a false meter of the full success. There is little success in planning.
Whatever you choose as your goal, and I'm guessing you've already begun as it's now January 4, keep this understanding in your head when you feel like giving up.
Every goal has its obstacles. But besides that, within every human being is both strength and weakness, desire and failure, advance and retreat, the prize and the pain, the glory and the shame. We've all won and lost.
The fail side is the reminder of what we become if we do nothing. Yet, also within us, built in by God, are determination and commitment. These two brothers-in-arms cause us to overcome all obstacles in our way. They are designed for that purpose. We use them to push beyond every challenging moment, every barrier, hurdle or drawback.
In your 2024 resolutions, consider Solomon in our key and only verse, who determined within himself to build a house for the Lord. He did it perfectly, dedicated it, and used it.
We are also called to build our house for the Lord and furnish it with every good work, making it profitable for the ministry.
As you determine or work on your 2024 resolutions, remember our wonderful Saviour's desire to see us working diligently on His.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, every year, I make resolutions, hoping to finish goals I think are necessary, and most times, I fail to get over the finish line. Please help me keep your needs and desires foremost in my plans and finish what I start.
Photo by Tim Mossholder
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