"O" NO...2009

We are rolling into January and we, by now, are getting into life as usual. I had some friends tell me that they are ready to get back into the routine after taking holiday respite. For myself however, I am never that thrilled about the routine.

So what is your resolution? What is going to make life better for you this year? What thing or things did you get disgusted with last year and have embarked on changing this New Year? Have you started out of the gates with resolve and tenacity to not let those things entangle you again? The bad news is, we are failures. The old adage that, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” rings true. How many people never lost any weight, or failed to keep it off? Or continued to be nasty to their spouse or, fill in the blank, after swearing that this year would be different? Look at the cover of “O” this month; the queen of estrogen motivation herself is a prime example.

I like the idea of New Years resolutions. But, I think we can miss the point that this is our everyday call. That resolving anew is the rhythm of our lives. We can put it into many different biblical terms like: putting off the old man and putting on the new, taking up our cross daily, renewing our minds, etc. Our sacramental call to worship is that we follow that very pattern. We die, we bury the old man, and we rise with newness of life in resurrection power. This is the pattern of the Lord’s Supper, this is the reality of baptism, and they both speak to our identity as the “New Man.”

I want to resolve to do this daily, knowing like a child I have an inability to advance my own cause apart from the help, direction, and resources of my heavenly Father. May we all find the grace and help we need to “put to death and put away” those things that are earthly in us (Colossians 3:5-8) this year and all the years that we tarry.