Resolution Check-Up

How are you doing on your New Year's resolution?  I know we are only twelve days into January, but that doesn't mean resolutions are still being followed.  The statistics are pretty amazing when it comes to New Year's resolutions.  Almost half of Americans make a resolution each year.  Out of those, only one out of three keeps their resolution through January.  Over the course of a year the statistics say that only 8% of people are successful in keeping their resolutions.

With such low success rates when it comes to New Year's resolutions, we can be thankful that our life in Christ is not lived in that kind of way.  As Christians we can rejoice in the fact that we are not saved by how well we live up to God's standard for our lives.  We are saved by grace alone as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9. 

We are all sinful and in need on God's forgiveness.  That is why we take joy and comfort in what Christ has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection.  The victory over sin, death and the devil and the forgiveness and salvation Christ won is given to us - free of charge, without any merit or worthiness in us.

So back to New Year’s resolutions.  We’ve all made them, and we’ve all broken them.  Some of us have made new ones and already broken them, and some of us have given up on the whole idea.  But instead of making a resolution that is all up to you - make one that relies upon God to be at work so you can do everything in Christ.

Our resolution, then, is not the one we make and fail to keep, but the one God has made for us.  God the Father made a resolution to send His Son to secure us unto life everlasting.  Jesus made a resolution to live, die, rise and intercede for us 24/7 - and He does.   The Holy Spirit made a resolution to create and strengthen faith within us.  God is faithful and He does it!