A New Year’s Resolution

02 Jan A New Year’s Resolution

Resolutions

As we all know, it’s traditional to make New Year’s resolutions the first of the year. We also all know that it is traditional to break them soon afterward.

Failing at New Year’s resolutions is so common that there are informal and unofficial days for “unresolving.”  January 17 is “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day.” The second Friday in January has been dubbed the unofficial “Quitter’s Day.”  One survey found that the average resolution lasts 3.74 months.

It’s hard to know what to conclude from this data. Personally, I’m inclined to believe that it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness, so I typically choose something to focus on the first of the new year.

This year, I’m focusing on trying to love others more consistently. But that is so broad, I have found it helpful to narrow things down a bit. From the great love passage in Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, there are what I call the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse regarding selfishness:

1. Love does not act unbecomingly.
2. Love does not seek its own.
3. Love is not provoked.
4. Love does not take into account a wrong suffered.

I find that those four statements alone cover nearly all my inappropriate responses to difficult people and circumstances. So, if I focus on those four, I find that all the rest of the statements about love in that passage seem to follow along with them.

So, if you’re looking for something other than a New Year’s Resolution to go beyond “Quitter’s Day,” may I suggest choosing a simple and “focused thought” for the New Year? Feel free to use my 2024 Focus Thought: Loving others more consistently.

YouTube Channel Progress

We are still working hard on the technical side of setting up everything for the YouTube channel: camera, microphone, audio and video recording software, audio and video editing software, YouTube channel set-up specifications, etc.  All those things have to be done before you film your first video. In the short run, the technical side is a greater challenge than creating the actual content.

But we’re making progress, and hope to be able to launch before long.

We appreciate your ongoing prayers as we continue to lay the foundation for moving from this blog to a YouTube channel. I’ll continue to keep you posted. If you’re not already on my email list, subscribe here so you don’t miss any updates – you’ll also receive my free video, Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You.

In the meantime, while I’m getting the YouTube channel ready, all of the past blog posts are still available – and you know that “repetition is the key to mental ownership!” 

And if you’re new here, we recently finished a series titled “Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ 5 Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective,”  in which I “connected all the dots” from posts over the years and combined them into a “spiritual game plan.” That series is a great place to start.

I look forward to seeing all of you on my new YouTube channel soon, to further discuss how to walk closer with God and live better in life.

Two resources I’ve created to help build your biblical base for a closer walk with God:

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