New Year's Resolutions

Every year, we make New Year’s resolutions, and every year, we break them.

The term resolution comes from the word “resolve,” which in Greek means “to let go.” When we make resolutions, they are geared towards things that we currently don’t have or circumstances that we currently are not in. For instance, a resolution to go on a diet means currently you do not have a nice body. A resolution to start saving means that currently you do not have the ability to control your spending or you are saving up for something you don’t have.

In terms of character, the term resolve speaks of something exuding strength; we even sometimes throw out words such as “firm resolve,” speaking of a principle or opinion that someone holds dearly.

As we walk in faith and obedience in Christ, we aspire to become more like Him, but like our New Year’s resolutions, we often times fail and stumble. Why? Because we are not resolved. Applying the “letting go definition” of the word, resolve in our Christian life means letting go of the images that we have for ourselves. We always dream of having a bountiful family life, abound with the riches of this world and the luxuries it has to offer – this is the image that we have for ourselves. What hinders us from being in obedience to Christ – especially to His call to love our neighbor – is that if we step out of our way to help others, we might not achieve the life that we have always pictured for ourselves. If we give out money, we might lose some for ourselves; if we spare some time for others, we might end up losing time for work or our studies or whatever we are doing in line with the “life images” that we paint for ourselves. We try to hold on to our time, talents, and treasures, to ensure that every detail of our life image comes true.

This is the message that I heard from church this past weekend – exactly this message. As I go through this week, I think about how this applies to my life:

· I try and paint my life image

· I think about the things I do and see if they are related to my life image.

· I think about opportunities to “let go” of this image by going out of my way to help others.

It might seem that I am advocating for a sudden shift in goals and end up giving your life totally to the ministry or helping out the poor and needy completely – giving up your dreams and aspirations. Admittedly, even I am not up for something like this. There is this important lesson that I have learned, though: When we spare just a small amount of our time, talents, or treasures, and we tweak the life images that we have to give allowance for helping others, we might change other people’s life images – people who have been stricken by poverty, grief, illness, sadness, death. When we share a small portion of our time, talents, and treasures, we may lose a small portion of what we have and the details of our life image might not come exactly as we want it to be. These people, they have nothing to lose. But by sharing a little of yourself to them, they end up gaining much, much more than what it could have meant to you. A spare change of a couple bucks to you might mean a meal to someone who has not had one for a long time. It can even be a couple of bucks drawing the line between being able to eat and having ulcer. A couple of minutes that you get to spend talking to someone who is depressed might be a whole boost of encouragement to someone who has been thinking of ending their life or hating the whole world around them.

I want to challenge each and everyone to spare some change, spare some time, spare some part of yourselves, and for even just a little bit, let go of a small portion of your life images to devote your resources to something more noble – helping out someone whose life picture is dark, due to poverty, grief, illness, sadness, death. Maybe it is when we let go of a small portion of ourselves that we end up changing the images of people have about their lives – to having a new image of hope, of love, and of life.

***In light of Mr. Abodiles' situation, letting go of a little bit of your time or your money may even save a life.

God bless you all.