Way Truth Life Apologetics

   As this new year begins, it’s commonplace for many people to make resolutions; a promise to oneself and / or others regarding some way in which they seek to improve who they are. Some seek to be more physically fit or healthy. Some seek financial stability / security. Some strive to become more educated / experienced in order to achieve a promotion at work OR to pursue a more desirable career. Why does it seem we have an instinct towards wanting to better ourselves in some way? Why do we feel insufficient in some (or several) areas of life and seek to improve upon them?

   For the past several years I’ve purchased a Christian Planner and have tried to be more disciplined in time management. Specifically, I’ve used these planners to be more intentional in my spiritual walk with the Lord. The two weekly pages have areas at the bottom for habit tracking. This is the second year I have marked four of the trackers with “Bible Reading,” “Prayer,” “Blog Post,” and “Reading.” The 2^nd reading is the title of whatever theological book I’m working through; currently that book is Cold Case Christianity and I’m about 50 pages away from finishing.

   The planner has at the front a “Vision Board” which many use to put their “Word” for the year or whatever their plan to achieve the year’s focus. Last year my word was “Discipline.” As I reflect back, I failed miserably. Part of my discipline plan involved a 1-Year through the Bible reading plan which required reading roughly four chapters of Scripture per day. I made it through mid-February with only having missed a couple of days and making them up by reading 8 chapters the next day. Suffice to say, after falling three days behind, I ended up abandoning that approach. Unfortunately, my Bible reading became more sporadic with Sundays and Wednesdays being the only consistent days where I read Scripture because I was in church services on those days.

   Other attempted disciplines also came up short. My prayer life stifled quite a bit. My blog posting (which I intend to do each Thursday morning at 11 AM) also slowly dropped by the wayside. In hindsight what I see is where I allowed the world and my own desires to take priority, which meant that my time and fellowship with God was supplanted and less of a priority.

   It doesn’t take a genius or an extremely insightful person to notice that we have an innate hunger to become better than we are. There is a drive inside each of us which pushes in one direction or another based on our needs, wants, and goals. In the battle between the spirit and the flesh, sinfulness (flesh) appears to be the default setting. We’re born into it and even after becoming a Christian, the flesh and sinful desires / inclinations still press us. BUT, we do not have to give into those sinful desires. As I read in Romans 6 today, we are free from sin through the sacrifice of Jesus, and we should yield ourselves to His service, not to our sinful desires.

   This year, I’ve made efforts to be more intentional than last year with my spiritual growth. My word for this year is “Surrender.” As I work towards being more surrendered to God, I’ve chosen six other words or categories in which to achieve a measure of success:

• Pray—foundational to one’s Christian walk is communication and fellowship with the Lord
• Serve—Christians are to be involved in ministry, using the resources and gifting of God to serve others
• Study—what we are able to know about God is contained within His Holy Word. Reading Scripture daily and augmenting that with other theological writings will help me to grow in my understanding of Christianity and the God I serve
• Forgive—because I needed and still need forgiveness for my failures, I need to keep short accounts with others who I feel have wronged me. I am not their judge and not entitled to hold any grudges; Jesus did not hold any grudges against me when He hung on the cross
• Follow—Jesus is Lord and Savior; His Lordship comes first. He is The King of kings and I am one of His children. He is my ultimate authority and I strive to honor and glorify Him
• Share—I became a Christian because of the seeds planted by other Christians. When the moment came that the Holy Ghost called me to repent and be saved, it was after the Gospel message had been shared enough for me to understand its impact

   Sometimes as we step out with intentions to improve ourselves, we are overly ambitious in our plans. When we fail to meet our goals (as often occurs soon after we begin to move on them) we can easily get frustrated and fall back into old habits. That is completely counterproductive. Who I was last year is not who I want to still be this year. Come January 2023, I want to look back on 2022 and see how I’ve grown and improved in character and my spiritual walk with God. I don’t want to see more failure than success. That determination can be hard to keep up, but it’s something we need to work toward. It may start out slow, but growth requires us to keep pressing forward. One adjustment from last year is utilizing a 2-Year through the Bible reading plan. So far, I’ve missed a couple days, but it was easy to get back on track reading four chapters instead of eight to catch up.

   Whatever your goals are for 2022, I pray they involve getting closer to God. If you are not a Christian, that first step involves repentance and salvation. It is through Jesus alone that we are restored to God (John 14:6). I pray you will take that first step which begins a lifelong journey. If you are a Christian, I pray you will strive to be more diligent in your faith, maybe even employing some of the same focuses I have chosen to grow closer to God. Here’s to a year of spiritual growth and drawing closer to the Lord!

~In Christ!