I don't know about you? But my weight has not changed (I'm one of those trying to gain rather than loose), I am no better at French, and I'm not always doing my scheduled devotions. This will be my 50th Blog Post, and amongst those are series I have started, and not quite finished like Love, Homelessless and Lent. It seems I start these things trying really hard to do them, then after a few months,weeks.... days; I stop, 'relax' or fail.
New Year's Resolutions are about setting targets and goals for ourselves to improve our next year i.e. getting healthier or stopping those bad habits. As I move on from one career into another, my goal next week is to research more on First Aid, Substance Misuse, Benefits Applications, and Services in my area. This goal will be useful to better me for the job ahead (more on that another day continuing homelessless and ending Boswells), but moving on to a new job is as much about me being everything I can be by my effort, as it is about being accepted and trained, and the experiences which have shaped me to be accepted. Goals are useful things, they motivate us and we do well from a bit of motivation to achieve our goals, but sometimes our goals can be a little bit too me-focused.
My Muslim friends will often sign off their messages with 'Insha'Allah' which means for them 'god willing', such that anything they plan does not depend entirely on their efforts (see Luke 12 for a good chapter on planning and worrying for the future). In Christian tradition we have an amazing word called 'grace'. Grace is all about us getting what we do not deserve. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."This passage is saying that our acceptance from God is nothing to do with how good we are as people. God is infinite and perfect, I am small and make mistakes. I could never write a good enough CV, be in good enough physical shape, train enough, know enough, spend enough time praying or whatever else you think we should do, to be good enough for God. It is not my own efforts and abilities than make me a son of God, acceptable and good enough, but it's Him gracefully adopting me. I cannot pay my debts, but Christ has. It would be like instead of a diet, you are given free liposuction; instead of learning French, a translator follows you around; instead of stopping smoking, smoking stopped being bad for you - not because of your efforts, but by grace.
Now, grace does not mean laziness. You're partner may call you beautiful, but that doesn't mean that you should never wash your face. Instead wash your face knowing that they'd find you beautiful if it was mucky, but doing so because you love them and want to please them with your nice clean healthy face (plus washing your face is good for you); instead of because you feel you have to wash it to make them accept you. So true with New Year's Resolutions: it is good to better yourself, and decide on things that will do so practically in 2014. Those resolutions however should not give you value as a person, because if they slack or fail you feel less accepted. What I am effectively saying is not to 'not do resolutions', but to examine your motives for doing resolutions.
Justification by Faith, and not by Law; Grace and not works. Motivated to change because you're accepted, and not to be accepted.
God guide you into the year ahead, and may you know His perfect accepting love towards you no matter what you have done or obtained.
xSx
Update:
Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:
www.simonslistening.co.uk
