We are a few weeks into the New Year and I wonder how many have already broken their New Year resolutions. For several years now I have personally not made any resolutions because I rarely keep them. Especially the weight loss resolution. According to the internet the ten most common resolutions are:-
1) Change diet & eat healthier; 2) Exercise more; 3) Lose weight; 4) Save more and spend less; 5) Learn a new skill or hobby; 6) Quit smoking; 7) Read more; 8) Change career; 9) Drink less alcohol; 10) Spend more time with the family.
One of my usual resolutions was to lose weight. A few years ago I heard a story about a wife who saw her husband standing on the bathroom scales and said to him breathing in isn’t going to lose you any weight. He replied I know but at least it’ll enable me to see what weight I am. It could easily have been me I often let my past weight loss failures influence my future attempts.
Although it can occasionally be good to look back, each new year is an opportunity to look forward. The rear view seen in the mirrors of our motorcycles is very small compared to what we see in front of us as we travel the highways and byways. What is in front of us is more important than what we have just passed. It can be said that life is similar. We can look back into the past but we can’t change it; we can however look forward and change the direction we are heading. Don’t let the previous years failures, mistakes, injuries and insults drain you of hope and expectation.
In the Bible the apostle Paul wrote:-
Brothers and sisters, I know that I still have a long way to go. But there is one thing I do: I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me (Philippians chapter 3 verse 13).
Philippi was a place where Paul along with Silas was beaten severely with rods and thrown into jail (Acts chapter 16 verses 16-35). Paul could’ve let this experience mar his future. But he took the decision to forget this beating and imprisonment along with all the other misfortunes he had suffered in the past. Instead he looked forward to his future goal and made this resolution.
Philippians chapter 3 verse 14; I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven.
He kept this resolution even at the expense of his own life. Paul regarded by some as the greatest of the Apostles believed Christ Jesus was the way the truth and the life and the gateway to heaven (John chapter 14 verse 6 & John chapter 10 verse 9). He looked forward to eternity in heaven despite his disappointments and suffering here on earth.
Whatever your resolutions and dreams maybe, look forward to achieving them rather than letting the past paralyze you into inaction. We hope one of those goals will be to look into Jesus’s claims.
If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come (2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17).
Have a blessed 2019 from all at the KoA.