Every
Year you say the same thing. This year will be different. This year I will “eat
healthier”,
“exercise more”,
“spend less money”, “travel more”, “spend more time with family”… etc. etc.
And like clockwork
every year you fail about 15 to 20 days into it.
Like all of us
hopelessly optimistic Americans, I too found myself making New Year’s
resolutions.
Like most individuals
I want to shed a few pounds and save a little more money and like most
Christians I want to fight the flesh this year and finally read the bible all
the way through, but at what point does it become less important and our when
do our so eager selves become less eager and really, what I want to know is how
to overcome my flesh and actually follow through with my new year’s resolutions?
How do my resolutions
become reality?
Well funny you should
ask because I found the answer…
The answer to
overcoming the flesh is in His Word!
Yes I am dead
serious.
I know you’ve heard
the scriptures.
1 John 4:4 …Greater
is He who is in you then he who is the world.
James 4:7 Submit
therefore to God…
Matthew 26:41 Keep
watching and praying…The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Oh and one of my
favorites
Matthew 18:8-9 If
your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off…
There are so many I
could sit here all night and list them, but we don’t fail at our goals because
of lack of scripture. We fail at our goals because we fail to study the
scripture and heed to it.
You can hear
scripture all day, but unless there is action the scripture is just words filed
in a storage bin in the back of your mind.
Proverbs 2:1-5 says,
and I’m paraphrasing…
Receive My words,
hide My commandments with thee, Incline your ears unto wisdom, and apply your
heart unto understanding the Word. If you cry after knowledge and pray for
understanding
And my favorite
part….” If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hidden
treasure; then shall you understand the fear of the lord and find the knowledge
of God.
Let me break this
last part down really quick because I think it’s rather awesome.
When Solomon (author
of Proverbs) starts referring to a “her”, he is not talking about a woman.
He is still talking
about the Word of God. Now this is my own opinion so take it as you’d like, but
I don’t think it was by any mistake that the wisest man who ever lived referred
to the Word of God as a woman.
No, it’s not because
women know all. Although we like to think so sometimes.
I think it had
something to do with how Solomon saw women.
This is the same man
who wrote about the proverbs 31 woman, and the same man who wrote about love in
the Song of Solomon. This man held women in high regard. He also states that
women are a precious jewel. Now I don’t think he said all this lightly either.
A while ago I wrote
about how awesome it is to be a woman. (You should go read it)
In that particular
blog I basically said in so many words how being a Godly woman, despite the
mood swings, periods, being too complicated for men to understand and being
unbearably emotional, is a beautiful thing.
God made us to be
motherly, sweet natured, and caring all wrapped up in a beautiful outward
appearance as well and without even having to say a word a woman just by being
a proverbs 31 woman can reach so many lives.
So I think that when
Solomon referred to the Word of God as a woman he was trying to explain how
precious, and valuable and beautifully breathtaking the Word of God truly is
and just by hiding it in your heart and seeking out understanding and praying
for that understanding, you can reach a higher level in God and in life. You
will see things in a whole new light and battles you once faced will be battles
won.
Now you’re probably
thinking, “Ok, but does God really care if I lose 10 pounds are not?”
The answer is yes.
We are talking about
your temple. God created that body and he wants it taken care of just as much
as you do and His word will give you the strength and wisdom to do so, but only,
and if only, you truly seek out understanding and it becomes more than just
words in a book but is a precious and beautiful treasure you relish in daily.
I challenge you this
year to not just read the bible front to back, but to really study it. I want
to be your accountability partner and you mine. I will do my best to post
something every week about what I’ve read and learned and I hope to hear from
y’all as well. I want to hear about your epiphanies, cool facts you learned and
also how this is effecting your other resolutions. I’m so excited about this
year. I’ve been too content this past year just going through the motions and
just trying to get through each day.
Not this year. This year WILL BE
DIFFERENT!
