New Year’s Resolutions – Weight Loss, Smoking and Treadmills
As the New Year arrives many of us make resolutions. We determine that we will lose 20 pounds, exercise five days per week, lower our cholesterol, get eight hours of sleep each night, or keep our house cleaner than last year.
How successful are we? People who track these things observe that 25% of us will abandon our resolutions in the first fifteen weeks.
Because we often fail to keep our resolutions, we tend to make them again and again. The average person making a New Year’s resolution this year will have made that resolution in 10 prior years.
Why do we fail to keep these resolutions?
Jesus spoke of the man who decided to change his ways. An unclean spirit leaves him only to return later saying, “I will return to my house from which I came.”
“When it returns, it finds it unoccupied, swept and put in order. Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
The problem with making and keeping resolutions often lies in the fact that we are not trusting in the Lord to make changes in our lives. On our own we will not be successful.
On occasion a chronic smoker may decide to quit smoking and succeeds without using a pills or patches. A doctor may tell a patient to lose 50 pounds or risk dying at an earlier age. The patient proceeds to lose weight and keep it off.
The more likely case is that we fail to keep our resolutions. We stop smoking for a week, but we find the anxiety too great. We return to our pack-a-day habit. Or we lose 50 pounds one year and gain 60 the next.
The Bible tells us that our real problem is sin. We are sinners by nature and tend to do things that alienate us from God and from others. Because this sinful orientation is part of our very nature, we are unable to change this condition by merely making a resolution at the end of the year not to do something in the next year.
We must begin by admitting to the Lord that we are sinners. Because the penalty for sin is death, we deserve to die and suffer eternally for that sin.
The wonder of wonders is that God cared so much for us that he provided a way for us to escape that penalty. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. The iniquity of us all was laid on Him. Jesus then rose bodily from the dead to defeat death and the grave.
The Bible also tells us that we must put our trust in Him in order to receive salvation. In other words, we must realize that He has paid the price on our behalf. We must rely on Him rather our good works to get us to heaven.
When we put our trust in Him as our Savior, the Bible says we have passed from death to life. Heaven is our home.
What does this Bible truth have to do with resolutions?
First, it shows us why so many people fail to keep resolutions. They may succeed for a while, but they often return to the same bad habit.
Second, when it comes to dealing with behaviors and attitudes that arise out of our sin nature, we cannot make any significant or lasting progress without trusting in the Lord.
Third, once we have put our trust in the Lord there is a range of New Years resolutions that we may wish to consider.
How about reading the Bible for a few minutes each day? What about making a prayer list with the names of family members and friends so that we can pray regularly for them? How about asking the Lord to help us serve Him in some way as we go about our daily affairs?
Losing weight, stopping smoking and dropping our cholesterol are all worthy New Year’s resolutions. If you have made those resolutions, stick to them. Don’t give up. Ask the Lord to help you keep them.
Consider adding some resolutions that go beyond food, drink and exercise. You will be glad you did, and 2006 can be the greatest year of your life.
The old gospel song puts it this way:
I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the worlds delights;
Things that are higher,
Things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.
I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One,
He is the just One,
He has the words of life.
I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Faithful and true each day,
Heed what He says
Heed what He wills,
He is the living way.
I am resolved to enter the kingdom,
Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me,
Foes may beset me,
Still I will enter in.
How successful are we? People who track these things observe that 25% of us will abandon our resolutions in the first fifteen weeks.
Because we often fail to keep our resolutions, we tend to make them again and again. The average person making a New Year’s resolution this year will have made that resolution in 10 prior years.
Why do we fail to keep these resolutions?
Jesus spoke of the man who decided to change his ways. An unclean spirit leaves him only to return later saying, “I will return to my house from which I came.”
“When it returns, it finds it unoccupied, swept and put in order. Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
The problem with making and keeping resolutions often lies in the fact that we are not trusting in the Lord to make changes in our lives. On our own we will not be successful.
On occasion a chronic smoker may decide to quit smoking and succeeds without using a pills or patches. A doctor may tell a patient to lose 50 pounds or risk dying at an earlier age. The patient proceeds to lose weight and keep it off.
The more likely case is that we fail to keep our resolutions. We stop smoking for a week, but we find the anxiety too great. We return to our pack-a-day habit. Or we lose 50 pounds one year and gain 60 the next.
The Bible tells us that our real problem is sin. We are sinners by nature and tend to do things that alienate us from God and from others. Because this sinful orientation is part of our very nature, we are unable to change this condition by merely making a resolution at the end of the year not to do something in the next year.
We must begin by admitting to the Lord that we are sinners. Because the penalty for sin is death, we deserve to die and suffer eternally for that sin.
The wonder of wonders is that God cared so much for us that he provided a way for us to escape that penalty. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. The iniquity of us all was laid on Him. Jesus then rose bodily from the dead to defeat death and the grave.
The Bible also tells us that we must put our trust in Him in order to receive salvation. In other words, we must realize that He has paid the price on our behalf. We must rely on Him rather our good works to get us to heaven.
When we put our trust in Him as our Savior, the Bible says we have passed from death to life. Heaven is our home.
What does this Bible truth have to do with resolutions?
First, it shows us why so many people fail to keep resolutions. They may succeed for a while, but they often return to the same bad habit.
Second, when it comes to dealing with behaviors and attitudes that arise out of our sin nature, we cannot make any significant or lasting progress without trusting in the Lord.
Third, once we have put our trust in the Lord there is a range of New Years resolutions that we may wish to consider.
How about reading the Bible for a few minutes each day? What about making a prayer list with the names of family members and friends so that we can pray regularly for them? How about asking the Lord to help us serve Him in some way as we go about our daily affairs?
Losing weight, stopping smoking and dropping our cholesterol are all worthy New Year’s resolutions. If you have made those resolutions, stick to them. Don’t give up. Ask the Lord to help you keep them.
Consider adding some resolutions that go beyond food, drink and exercise. You will be glad you did, and 2006 can be the greatest year of your life.
The old gospel song puts it this way:
I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the worlds delights;
Things that are higher,
Things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.
I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One,
He is the just One,
He has the words of life.
I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Faithful and true each day,
Heed what He says
Heed what He wills,
He is the living way.
I am resolved to enter the kingdom,
Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me,
Foes may beset me,
Still I will enter in.
posted by Steve at 11:40 AM
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