"Resolved" January 1 Readings: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1, Psalm 1, Proverbs 1:1-4

 Through the Bible in 2021

Bible Readings: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1, Psalm 1, Proverbs 1:1-4

In these daily readings, we will have a selection from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a portion of Psalms, and of Proverbs.

Today is a day of beginnings.

Daily Devotional: Resolved

I want 2021 to be a year of change and growth for me. For most of us, 2020 will not be remembered with great fondness, and it was possibly the toughest of my life. I think we all hope that this coming year will be our comeback year in the Kingdom of God. 

I have some of the same resolutions that I've had for the last decade or two. 

• I need to restart my weight loss program and to get my body in order.  
• I want to be more diligent in prayer as well. 
• I want to be more active in sharing my faith, both in Senegal (if COVID allows) and in Sioux City. 
• I hope to devote more time to my writing ministry and finish several of the books I've got floating around my hard drive. 
• There are a number of ministry projects and other things I want to take care of in 2021. 

And it's all going to take a lot of work. If I want to accomplish any of those goals, I've got to give myself fully to those noble aspirations. I've got to make some significant changes. I need to use my time more wisely during the say so that I can get to bed at a better hour, get more sleep and have more time and energy during the day for the tasks I am seeking to accomplish. I need to turn off ESPN and NCIS to devote more time to that writing ministry, to prayer and to the other things I want to do. To add some things to my life I've got to give up some other things.

It's not going to be easy. It's going to be labor. Work. Struggle.

And then I read Genesis 1:3.

"And God said, 'Let there be light." 

And there was light. He spoke it into being. God didn't stress or strain to create the world. He spoke and it was. There was nothing - empty, void, shapeless, nothing. Then God spoke and there was something.

That is the God I serve. His power is unlimited and he is willing to release that power to enable me to become everything he wants me to be. Make sure you heard that correctly! I did not say that God would work to help me become everything I want to be. We need to stop sipping that kind of man-centered poison. God will change me, transform me, renew me, and empower me to be what he wants me to be.

This year is a new adventure, a gift from God. God is not limited by what I used to be. He looked at the emptiness and spoke to it, making it something. He can empower my life to be all he wants it to be. God's restoring and transforming grace is at work in me as it was in creation.

My success or failure this year depends on three things.

First, am I devoting myself to and engaging in the projects and purposes to which God has called me and for which God has gifted me? Am I living on God's agenda? If I am on my own agenda, I will likely fail. But if I am seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all the other things I desire will tend to fall in line as they should.

Second, am I depending on the power of the One who spoke the world into being? I've tried through my own moral will, through "doing my best," to do those things that need to be done. That is why I have consistently failed at those things that I have resolved. But God is powerful. If I am depending on his power and the fullness of his Spirit in me, I can do everything I need to do. I can walk in power, withstand storms, serve God, be all he wants me to be, and do all he wants me to do.

Finally, my ability to discern the agenda of God and to walk in the power of God is directly related to my discipline in reading God's Word. The Christian life cannot be lived successfully without constant dependence on and obedience to the written word of God.

Psalm 1:3 makes this plain. The one who delights himself in the law of God and meditates on it day and night...

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

My desire, my prayer, is that this year, that might be me!

Father, I thank you that your grace is sufficient and that your power is unlimited. Nothing is impossible with you. We come to you this year asking for renewal, for power and strength, for a new experience of your grace. May this coming year, as we commit to reading your Word regularly, be a time of growth for each of us. Help each of us to follow through on our commitments to this Challenge.

Consider God's Word:

Which of the readings spoke most powerfully to you today?
Is the Spirit of God moving you to repent of something you are doing, to begin something new, or to change something about your life as a result of your readings? What?

Whatever your plans, hopes, and dreams are, will you commit yourself to Bible reading, prayer, and spiritual disciplines in the coming year? 
Remember, in all of that, your success depends on the power of God, not your own will, strength or effort. Rely on him.