When I was a young child in gradeschool, I can remember that every New Year’s Day, our parents required us to sit down and write out a brand new list of resolutions. I can distinctly remember putting down things like: 1) I resolve to read all the way through the Bible, 2) I resolve to be nicer to my siblings, 3) I resolve to obey my parents more than I did last year, etc., etc.

High school was quickly followed by college where I first began training for the ministry. I continued to make my new year’s resolutions but along with the read through the Bible resolution, now they seemed much more substantial. They included things like: 1) I resolve to keep myself pure, 2) I resolve to serve the Lord and give Him my whole life, 3) I resolve to spend more time learning to love God than I do in pleasing myself, etc., etc. Of course, now that I was in Bible college, I had to include some resolutions that would show to others that I was fully resolved to do better than I did last year.

Whether it was grade school, high school, or college, the truth still remained. Within two or three weeks after the 1st of January, I was normally back to where I was before. My “new” resolutions were but a distant memory and very little, if anything, ever really changed. I convinced myself that I was not a bad guy and that there were plenty of others who did not keep their resolutions so I was in good company.

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