Most resolutions lack substance

I found an interesting news article about the New Year’s resolutions of extremely successful people. Even though I didn’t recognize anyone interviewed, the subject matter raised my curiosity because these people were considered successful.

The interviewer asked each person to name a resolution or personal areas of focus for the coming year. The results surprised me.

One person wanted to do more repurposing, like furniture clothes and such. Another executive wanted to “dig deeper digitally” and also wanted to take his children outdoors more. One woman stated that in the new year, she “would like to find more time to think.” Yet another stated that her most important thought for the new year was to spend more time on social media.

None of these people were wrong in their resolutions. After all, resolutions are personal and a product of one’s mindset.

Yet their responses seemed shallow to me. None of those interviewed mentioned anything of substance that would help them handle and negotiate the unknown difficulties that each one will inevitably face in 2017.

Not one of us knows what the days of 2017 will bring into our lives: good times, difficult times or a combination of both. But the basic issue is where do we place our trust when we lose a child? Who do we lean on when our loved ones face terminal illnesses? In what do we place our confidence for help and hope and strength to go on when tragedy comes down upon us?

A very successful, rich and accomplished leader in the community once asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. See … he had everything. But he was still unfilled and looking for more.

Jesus in turn responded with a question: “What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?”

The man answered: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with your mind.” And “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

The religious teacher had head knowledge of the Scriptures but no heart knowledge. Jesus knew his heart and Jesus said “Do this and you will live.” (Luke 10: 25-28).

So how do we love the Lord God? If I love God with my heart, I surrender my affections to him and thus my affections take on a godly perspective. So my love for my family, friends, casual acquaintances, and even strangers are the receptors of that love of God shown through me.

If I love God with my soul, my ambitions, plans and goals are all oriented toward one purpose and that is to honor God. If I love God with all my strength, my greatest physical efforts are emptied on activities and purposes that reflect God’s love through me.

I don’t engage in behaviors and activities that would dishonor God. If I love him with my entire mind, my logic and reasoning, the way I make decisions and my conclusions all point to the Savior. But that is only the first part.

Jesus said we must love our neighbor as yourself. So I don’t use people, ignore people, criticize people, or react in hateful or callused ways to people. I am not rude, critical, judgmental, or condescending to others. I see to my neighbor’s interests and needs and help carry my neighbor’s burdens — I love my neighbor as myself.

Jason DeRouchie, professor of Old Testament and Biblical theology at Bethel College and Seminary, sums up this love idea well: “This truth means that every closet of our lives needs to be opened for cleaning, and every relationship in our lives must be influenced. This call to love God this way destroys any option of being one person at church and another person on a date. What you do on the internet needs to be just as pure as what you do in Bible-reading. The way we talk to our parents needs to be as wholesome as the way we talk to our pastors.” (“Love God With Your Everything” by Jason DeRouchie, 2013)

So what is the conclusion? Love God with your everything in 2017.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact her at: [email protected]