Have Peace - you will suffer

When we think of the resolutions we make, they are positive. We want to be better, stronger, greater, ect. Most of us don’t make resolutions like, I want to suffer more, or I want troubles, but in the Christian life, we are told that we will have troubles.

So how do we reconcile this idea that we should strive to better, that we should desire to the best that we can with the gifts and talents that God has given us and the fact that we are going to have trouble?

The burden of the resolution often results in failure sometime later. The gyms are full in January and by March…. They are almost back to the normal crowd. But Jesus told his disciples that all these troubles would come – so that they would have peace.

You’re going to suffer! Have peace… it doesn’t quite sound right….

Working at a Christian camp from time to time we were encouraged during difficult times that when God is working in such significant ways, we shouldn’t be surprised that the devil puts up a fight. So yes, if we are doing God’s will, we will have trouble! Take courage, you’re on the right path!

Perhaps the fact that we will suffer can help us shape our goals and resolutions better. I will strive to maintain a healthy body so that I  can glorify God and maybe learn better self-discipline in the process. But I know that I will age and my body will break and I look forward to the new body I will receive in heaven.  I commit to managing my money more wisely – so that I can be part of Christ’s Kingdom coming here on earth.  I commit to spending more time with family and friends instead of screens because God loves people, not pixels.

So how does your faith impact your resolutions?

Are the resolutions we make a way of once again dying to sin and picking up our cross and following Christ?

How will you react when you can’t keep your resolution? When we fail? When we grow old?

John 16:33

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I Resolve to Pray

As we begin the new year many make resolutions. Be more healthy, save money, study more, be happier or something else. Resolutions are a fresh start. The old year has finished and we are looking forward to something new. As Christians, we too look forward to something new. God is continuing to create something new in us, and we don’t have to wait until January 1^st for God to start His work.

This new year, I resolve to pray. Not because I don’t already, but I have become distracted. And when I don’t pray I am less aware of how God is working in me. In Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, he writes, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.” My resolve to pray isn’t just before I eat or before I sleep, it is a resolve that prayer might be something that is woven into the way that I live.

              Yes, I am going to fail at this. But the grace of God is incredible that I don’t have to wait to next year to start again. Pray continually. And when I realize that I have become distracted, pray again. And through all of this may I see, just a little more clearly, the hand of God working.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.