The Lord your God is going ahead of you….—Deuteronomy 1:30 (NLT)
When I sat down to write my resolutions for the new year, I looked back through my journal to resolutions I’d made over the last twenty years. “Hmm,” I said to my friend who’d met with me so that we could write our resolutions together, “it seems that each year my resolutions are basically the same. Eat better, exercise more, and read my Bible daily.” I shut my journal. “I don’t want to write a laundry list of things to do this year.”
“I have an idea,” my friend said. “How about we write our resolutions based not on things to do but based on how to be?” She opened her journal. “A friend shared some ideas with me the other day. I think they are just what we are looking for.” She read, “Be prayerful. Be trustful. Be obedient. Be forgiving. Be faithful. And, finally, be a follower of Jesus.”
“Wow, these are great resolutions!” I said. “I must admit, though, they seem like a pretty tall order. I mean, without even knowing what will happen, we are resolving to handle everything this year as true followers of Christ. I love the idea, but it’s a bit daunting.”
“Let’s remember this thought then,” she said. “What’s important about this new year is not what is ahead of us but Who is ahead of us.”
Jesus, I know You will never lead me into anything You won’t lead me through. Help me to be a prayerful, trustful, obedient, forgiving, faithful follower of You this year. Amen.
Digging Deeper: Joshua 1:9, Jeremiah 29:11
