Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I used to, but I found that I was not able to keep most of them. One of the things that I discovered about myself is that when I would fail to keep my resolution I would subconsciously think that I couldn’t begin again until the next New Years Day. I would sometimes do that with Bible reading. I would determine that I would read the Bible through in a year and then in about March or April when I would get further and further behind, instead of just picking up and reading from where I left off, I would give up entirely on the goal of reading it through until the next year began. Then I would begin the cycle all over again. I certainly got to know Genesis through Leviticus pretty well!
The thing a new year offers is the sense that we can set a goal and work toward that goal. That’s not a bad thing. Some of us need to lose some weight. Some need to reinvigorate their spiritual lives. Some need to cultivate serving others rather than self. These are all worthwhile goals but we need to remember that if we fall down somewhere along the way, we can get back up and renew our “resolution” right then. We don’t have to wait for another year to roll around. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.”
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