New Years Resolutions

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted

Genesis 14:22
“I have raise my hand to the Lord, God Most high, Creator of heaven and earth and have taken a oath”

It’s that time of the year again! At the start of every New Year we hear the resolutions flow like water. Sometimes we hear of others doing it, and sometimes we do it our selves. We make a little pledge or oath to ourselves, we make our list of New Years resolutions usually addressing those little things that have bugged us in the past or the things that will bug us for the rest of the year. It’s a ritual we go through every January as if by some miracle the start of the year will empower us to be able to do something that we are unable to do through the rest of the year. Like there’s some kind of earth shaking revelation in our life and from now on things will be all better. It’s like all those things that have been there for the past year, the past five, ten or twenty years is about change and starting now our personal history is about to change for the rest of our lives.

I was listening to the radio and they were saying that the most popular New Years Resolutions are 1) loosing weight 2) changing jobs 3) saving money and 4) stop smoking. Okay, just for the heck of it, how many of us have used these resolutions ourselves? … And how successful have they been?

I was working at the same job starting in 1991 until I retired in 2008 and to tell you the truth I was just happy and thanking my Lord for letting me be employed during those years. Now I’m on a new job, full time ministry, and I hope to do this until I’m called home by our Lord. I have no intention of changing jobs in the near future as far as I know so I guess that one doesn’t apply to me. I quit smoking in 1972 so that hasn’t been of any major impact in my life. It does show the power of the human will if you really put your mind to it, and I guess the Holy Spirit was with me even then when I didn’t know him very well. I went from smoking 3 packs a day to zero over night and I’ve never looked back. My lovely wife, Mary used to get upset with me because I would light a cigarette before I would turn off the alarm clock. To give you an idea as to how long ago I quit smoking, cigarettes were going from 30 to 35 cents a pack when I quit and I thought I couldn’t afford to smoke any more back then. What are they now? $6.00 a pack, $50 to $60 a carton? If I did want to smoke now I really couldn’t afford it and I don’t think my Lord would appreciate me burning up the good money he’s provided me with to do ministry by puffing it away in smoke. I don’t think he would appreciate me using his tithe as a burnt offering.

That takes us to the 3rd resolution, loosing weight. Over the years I’ve lost at least 500 pounds… at two or three pounds at a time. I loose it, I gain it, I loose it, and I gain it. It’s an endless cycle. Has anyone noticed any difference in me lately? I didn’t think so. Actually the quit smoking thing got me to where I’m at today. When I first quit I gained 60 pounds in the first year. Prior to that I was a skinny as a rail. Now why I’m still at this weight is my fault, I like to eat as much as I used to like to smoke.

That brings me to the last one, saving money! I never have figured out how this one works. Be honest now, how many people have been real successful at this one? My mother could never figure out why Mary and I had some much trouble making ends meet when our children were teens and they were living at home with us. I can remember asking her how much my dad made when I was a kid and then how much it cost her to feed us and it came out to be 1/5 of their income per week. Then I was able to show her that things had really changed over the years. For me to feed my family with the kids home it now took ½ of my weekly pay. And we weren’t eating near as well as we did when I was a child. When I was a child a new car cost about 1/6 of my fathers yearly income, now a new car is more than my yearly income if I want a nice one and for a average one it’s still just about what I make per year. Cars are so expensive now that they no longer sell them to you, now you get to rent them and then give them back. And they charge you if you drive them too far.

So much for the top four New Years resolutions. Maybe you’ve made a resolution to exercise more or to walk more, that’s a good thing. I know I now park farther away from the store entrances just for those few more steps it takes to get there. I started that trend years ago when my car was new. I didn’t want people to hit it in the parking lots so I parked as far away as I could without leaving the store’s parking lot. It didn’t work; my car has been hit three times, one of those three accidents was by a tractor trailer. But I take those extra steps and I take the stairs if I can over the elevator. There’s darn few of us that don’t need the extra exercise. I’ve read that on an average the remote control of your television adds around 8 pounds to you each year because we no longer walk over and change the channel any more. What do you think of that little tid-bit?

Each of there resolutions is all well and good – if we stick to them. But what I want to offer to you today are a few resolutions for the New Year that can have an effect on your spiritual condition which I think is much more important than your physical condition. And most likely if we work on building up our spiritual condition it will have a positive effect on the physical condition as well.

Resolution #1 … Spend more time in prayer! If you don’t pray on a daily basis try doing just that. Make an extra effort to spend some time talking to God each day. If you’re watching the television, try using that remote that’s increasing our bulk and hit the mute button when they go to a commercial. Spend that minute or minutes in prayer. Most of those commercials are things we don’t need, don’t want and aren’t any good for us anyway. And for many of them you might try shutting your eyes as well, prayer and the stuff on the television don’t mix well.

If you’re one of those that now live out of the microwave oven, spend that three minutes it takes to cook your meal in prayer. Put the food in, hit the start button and pray while it’s spinning your food around in there. And then spend that next two minutes in prayer as well. You know what I’m talking about, that time you need to heat the thing up again after you find that cold spot in the middle.

If you do pray daily … try adding a few extra minutes to your prayer time. There is all kind of ways you can do this. Pray while your driving the car. In today’s society praying while driving really makes sense. Now that we’ve decided that stop signs, red lights and speed limits only apply to the other guy we need all the heavenly assistance we can get. When I was working in the prison system I drove 100 miles a day round trip to get to work and back home again. I know what I’m talking about, driving is a real good time to pray, even if your guardian angel did get out after watching you drive the last time you got in the thing.

I think it was Martin Luther who once said that he wanted to spend at least one hour a day in prayer. And after looking at his schedule and the awesome amount of work he had to do he said he would have to spend two hours in prayer just to get ready for his day.

We read in the Scriptures that we are admonished to pray continually. This was given to the Jews, who to this day continue in this instruction. As they go about their daily tasks and duties they do what is know as a “Breath Prayer”. When they breath in they say a little prayer, something like “Praise you Father” as they inhale and “Bless me Father” as they exhale. Prayer is one of the easiest things we can do for our New Years resolution.


Resolution #2 … spend more time in the Word of God. Make it a point to set aside a few minutes each day to study the Bible. Make reading the Bible a daily occurrence. I have talked to many people who quite proudly will tell me that they have been a Christian for many years and yet they admit that they have never read the Bible through. It is not that big of a book. Today we even have Bibles that are set up for reading the complete Bible in a year, they come preset with notations that tell you what to read and how much to read each day to get through this little black book in a year. They come with a daily schedule that is easy to follow and the cost is less than $10.00 in paperback from the Christian book Distributors. When I was teaching a adult Sunday school class I once came in with a hand written copy of the book of Philippians and in a 45 minute period I read it in it’s entirety and we even had room for discussion and conversation. Of course there was a little humor mixed in there, it’s a must in my classes.

I’ve found people that have no problem believing that the wording found in the 22nd chapter of Revelation isn’t just talking about the book of Revelation but that it can be applied to the entire Bible as a whole. And why not? (Revelation 22:19) says, “If anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book”. 2nd Peter tells us that the Spirit is the author of the entire Bible so why not accept that what is found in the beginning of the book of Revelation applies it to the entire Bible as well from start to finish. [Revelation 1:3] says, “Blessed is he who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near”. I don’t know about you but if I can get a blessing from God for doing something as simple as reading … I’m going to take advantage of that. Remember, the entire Bible is just one book made up of several smaller books and the object of the complete Bible is to tell the story of Jesus Christ.

If we skip one hour of watching one of those foolish reality television shows each week and spend that time reading the Bible we might find that the greatest reality of all is that Jesus Christ wants us to have a personal relationship with him. And that my friend will bring on heaps of blessings that the television never gives.

Resolution #3 … you’ve heard it said, “put you money where your mouth is”. I want to change that just a bit and say “put your money where your heart is”. If we can start to pray more and start to read the Scriptures more our hearts will be drawn to God more as well. And believe it or not where the heart goes so goes the wallet. That my friend is a fact of life!

If you’re a tither, and thank God there are many, the church and ministries couldn’t exist without them. But if you are a tither consider being a little more generous in your giving of gifts if you can afford it. When I was the associate pastor of a small country church several years ago they were small in number but the opportunity for blessing others went well above and beyond what you would expect a small church to do. Their generosity really shined like a beacon to the world. They supported the ShoeBox ministry where they could bless children all around the world, the Angel Tree ministries where they blessed the children of inmates that are locked up in the prison system. Those gifts went to people right here in our back yard so to speak, I got a blessing just from going out and delivering the presents to the people in the inner city. They sent Christmas snack food packages to the Wendy Correctional Facility. They worked in the local food bank and there are 90 local families that get blessed by Christian giving every month through that ministry. As I said before, for a small country church their heart for giving was unbelievable. Never forget your missionaries, they take the word of God to the far reaches of the world and they need our support every day in prayers as well as finances.

If you don’t tithe, consider tithing this year as a resolution for the New Year. Do you know that tithing is the only thing in the Bible where God commands us to put him to the test? Everywhere else we are told not to test the lord our God, but in regards to tithing it says in [Malachi 3:10] “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this”, says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it”. Put God to that test; see what he will do with the 90% you keep after he gets his 10% that is rightfully his to begin with. And if you can’t afford to pay a full tithe, try to get a little closer to it, increase by just a little, at least make the effort. And if you really can’t tithe, don’t worry about it. God doesn’t need the money, it’s our sacrifices that we are pleasing to God, he doesn’t keep a running total to see what we give. Besides, if God needs some more money, he can make it. He makes everything else so why not make more money? And since he uses gold for building material I don’t think he’s real interested in how much paper he has, and in his wallet he doesn’t carry cash, he just carried the pictures of his children… all of us.

If you have no money at all to give. That’s fine too. Consider tithing in your time and talents. The church of Jesus Christ will always need your time and talents. Jesus told us that the harvest time is here and the crop is huge but the workers are few. Give of your time and talents as your sacrifice unto the Lord. Do it without looking for a title or tooting your own horn, giving all the praise and glory to God rather than looking for the praise and glory to be given to you. If you have to have your name and title tossed in front of your list of accomplishments all the time, guess what? You just got your blessing. I didn’t say that, Jesus did. Workers will always be needed in the true church of Jesus Christ. If the day ever comes when your time and talents are no longer needed for the ministry of God it means either one of three things.
Number one, Jesus returned and gathered his church, and if you’re still standing here saying “I’ve got a title, what do I do next for the recognition?” Sorry …When the train pulled away from the station your ticket wasn’t validated.
Number two; turn off the light when you leave the building because the church will be dead. A church that doesn’t need or use wisely all of its congregation’s time and talents is a dead church run by dead leaders with no godly vision and I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be in a dead church.
Number three, the option I like best, take a look around you, do things look different, you’ve made it into glory and the harvest is complete.

Resolution #4 … resolve to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons [and daughters] of God”. (emphasis mine) Represent Jesus down here on God’s earth to the level you’d like Jesus to represent you up there in heaven. Start the year out by trying to mend any hurt or fractured relationships you may have with another person. Make a concentrated effort to restore any eroded friendships or relationships you may have had crumble in the past. [Romans 12:18] says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone”. The apostle Paul knew when he penned those words so long ago that there would be situations when it just wouldn’t work. That’s why he says, “if it is possible” he knew that there would be times when it just isn’t possible at all. But it’s our responsibility to do what we can to heal the hurt. Notice that he goes on to say, “as far as it depends on you”. We don’t have control over the other person or people, but we do have control over ourselves. Offer the olive branch of peace, if the other party isn’t willing to take it or make amends then so be it, we’ve done what the Lord instructed us to do. We’ve allowed the Holy Spirit to minister to our heart by following the word of the Lord, and then let the Spirit minister to their heart as well. We resolve to do what we can and then we allow God to do the rest.

So often we allow minor infractions to make major divisions when it really isn’t worth the trouble it causes us in our own personal spirit. And now I’m addressing the church family, our behavior toward our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We all need to try being that “peacemaker” Jesus talked about, that’s everyone on both sides of the dispute, not just one. I’m not talking about looking the other way when we can see that there is a real dividing or destroying spirit in the church. When there is a real teaching of out and out heresy or a total rejection of the sound Biblical teachings of Scripture or the authority of Scripture. Then something has to be done and done quickly to end the cancer before it spreads to far. That’s what the constitution and by-lays of the church are in place for, so that it’s not a personal agenda we are working from but using the wisdom and guidance of the Lord.

Will we ever have a perfect church? No! Not until Jesus returns to rapture his church. But we can strive to make it as peaceful as we can until then. There are many times when giving grace is the more easier task than giving grief and it’s far more rewarding to both parties. The key words are, “if it is possible” and “as often as it depends on you”. Only we know how much grace we have to give and how much it depends on us to give it. Do what we can to feel a holy comfort in our spirit and then let it go. A fire without fuel grows dim in the heart if God’s Spirit is in place. If the other party wants to carry the burning embers around it will only turn to useless ashes at some point.

Resolution #5, number five is kind of a mix of a few of the other resolutions. Resolve to be a better witness to the world as a personal representative of Jesus Christ. To do this we need to have a deeper understanding of His Word. To do this we need to pray more and be more friendly and open to others. When the opportunity arises … be more open and share the Gospel message that brings salvation to the world. Resolve to be bolder this year in your witness. Practice subliminal advertising.

Does everyone know what subliminal advertising is? For those of us a little more advanced in years that some others you may remember when the movie theaters practiced subliminal advertising? Drive-in theaters were really guilty of it. With a movie there is a roll of film that is a fast moving series of pictures, each advancing the action to the next step. Well someone figured out that if you inserted a photo of a snack item, say like popcorn or candy every fifty or so frames. Although the picture wouldn’t actually be there long enough to be seen and recorded as seen with the naked eye, but the human mind being what it is, it did see the thing and it was recorded in your sub-conscious. And with repeated flashes of the image, each being recorded just below our threshold of conscious awareness it didn’t take long before your conscious mind told your body that you wanted the popcorn or candy. We in essence were brainwashed into buying their snacks without really knowing why. This practice was banned years ago by our government and has resurfaced within the past few years in a slower version and under a different name. Now it’s known as phantasmagoria and it’s become the standard of advertising. Our young people in particular have become so used to phantasmagoria that it has inroads into every aspect of our society. Phantasmagoria is a rapidly changing image that is optically visual but we don’t get a clear image of what we are seeing. Not to the point that we can make a good visual observation of the item shown. The biggest users of this style of advertising is seen in car and beer commercials and in the video music industry. When is the last time you saw a good long picture of a car in a television ad? You don’t, the picture changes every few seconds so that you never really get to see the thing clearly before it’s replaced with another picture from a different angle. In the advent of the video generation this is what people have been convinced that they want. For me it just gives me a headache!

It’s even spilling into our churches. Sometimes it’s good; sometimes it’s not so good. During worship or the sermon through power point, images appear on the wall or a screen, most of the time it’s so you can follow along in the song or the sermon, but it’s also being used to amuse or entertain people during a service as well. We’ve become a generation of people that want to be entertained all the time and often the viewer isn’t focusing so much on the message, as they are the entertainment of the images. What was intended to be a form of instruction becomes a distraction from the power of the spoken word because our mind no longer focuses on the words but focuses on the entertainment. The word of God is replaced by a picture and the power of that word is reduced to background noise for the pictures. If you think I’m crazy … think about this …how many vehicles now come with televisions built into the thing to entertain the children because they can’t sit and look out the window any longer? They have to be amused all the time. Look how children behave in a restaurant or even church, they want to be amused or entertained all the time and we give in rather than say no. We give in rather than face the tyrant that will follow that dreaded two character word no longer used with a child. We’re afraid to say “NO” because we know what is going to follow. It’s not politically correct don’t you know. But enough on that subject, that’s a different sermon for a later date.

Going back to the subliminal advertising, we could use a form of this still today in our witness. I like to think of it more as “injected edification”. Use little words or phrases that give glory to God. Inject the image of God in your conversations and letters. When ending a conversation or meeting with someone or a correspondence rather that saying “good-bye”, try saying “Grace and peace!” I do this all the time, if anyone has received a letter from me with-in the past year or so they have seen this salutation used. They may have thought “what an interesting thing to say”, but in your sub-conscious mind it was just recorded that “ this guy just blessed me”. And that was what it was intended to do. It’s a simple witness for my God.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s we went through a phase that when we talked to people in the church setting, in particular the Pentecostal churches, but it wasn’t restricted to them, people would use the term “Praise God” all the time. People would use the term all the time in every situation “Well praise God we got our income tax return today”, or “praise God the car is paid for at last. And eventually it went from the true intended meaning to the crazy “Praise God Alice put her false teeth in today”. People used it to the point that it started to loose it’s intended effect and eventually it started to become blasé. We can resolve to revive this and other little things to be a witness without really shouting, “I’m witnessing for my God”. In our conversations say “praise God” every once in a while where you would really want to praise God for what he’s done. Slip in a God Bless or a Grace and Peace. When we do this we are being a witness to the love and concern of our Lord over his people. It’s not much, it’s not hard and it sure is effective. And no I don’t care if it is politically correct or not, I’m talking up my God and He is the center of my universe, and I don’t care if it does offend someone.

My friend we are entering a New Year and with it a new list of resolutions. We can use the old favorites if we want. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, and they aren’t bad. But we can also add a few of the things we’ve just listened to as well. Each of us today is starting out on the rest of our life one step at a time as we walk out this life. Where we walk and how we act is up to us. The Holy Spirit is there and willing to be of service, Jesus gave us a mandate and he gave us his Spirit to assist us. What we do with this is totally up to us. You don’t have to make a decision this second but give it some thought. What New Years resolutions are you going to make this year? And how much are you willing to stick to it? The choice is up to each of us independently, don’t look to someone else to tell you what you need to do, I can’t tell you, your pastor can’t tell you. No one can be your voice; no one can be your will, because in the final analyses when we stand before the Lord there isn’t going to be anyone else there but you and Jesus. And you may hear either of these two things, “why didn’t you tell them about me” or “ well done my good and faithful servant”. Why not make hearing “well done my good and faithful servant” your resolution for this year.
Grace & peace