New Year's Resolutions

Yesterday in Children’s Church we read about the dedication of the baby Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:22-38).  And in particular, we looked at Simeon and Anna, their lives and the startling words that they spoke about Jesus.  Simeon and Anna were prime examples of God keeping His promises.  Both of them were very advanced in years and were waiting to see the fulfillment of God’s promise of the coming Messiah.

The talk of promises during the class led to the subject of making New Year’s Resolutions.  After much discussion, the giving of examples and a lot of bantering back and forth, we decided that our New Year’s Resolutions should simply be centered around what each of us think we can do better in 2012 than we did in 2011.

This morning as I arose a little bit earlier than normal, I began to pray about new directions for my morning Bible study and found myself thinking about what my own New Year’s Resolutions should be.  I was led by the Spirit to begin studying some of the smaller books in the New Testament that I do not read regularly.  With that, I thumbed through the pages of my favorite Bible translation, came to the book of I Thessalonians and began to read in chapter one.  I got as far as verse three and then spent the next hour studying different verses throughout the New Testament in combination with various concordances and commentaries that all discussed the important subject of love.

The section of I Thessalonians 1:3 that set me off in my travels was the part where the Apostle Paul commented to the congregation of the church at Thessalonica that their “love is working hard.”  (Gods Word ©)  That phrase really stunned me as I turned it into a personal question to myself!  There are a few situations in my life where I could not answer an honest “yes” to that question.  It is now clear that love is something that I can do better this year!  I’m sure that this is a subject that you’ll be hearing more of in the coming months!

How about you?  Are there some areas (not necessarily negative either…) that you can do better in this year?  Is your ___________ working hard?  I know that I want to be the very best that I can be for the Lord in 2012, and in order to do so, I have to work harder and do better in a few areas than I did way back in 2011.

So I challenge you at the beginning of this great New Year to take a look inside, to be honest with yourself and then set out to do better than you ever have before!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting To DO BETTER today (as well as for the rest of the year…)?”