Resolutions to change your life in 2009

Here are four resolutions for the New Year which could change your life significantly. If you will make four commitments that God encourages in His Word I guarantee you that they will make 2009 one of the most significant periods in your life. Follow this advice and 2009 could be the start of a better life for you and for those around you, both at home and in the work-place. I want to challenge you to make four new commitments for this New Year.

Are you willing to make these 4 commitments for 2009?

• Will you commit yourself to forget your failures?
• Will you commit yourself to give up your grudges?
• Will you commit yourself to restoring your relationships?
• Will you commit yourself to turning your back on any wrongdoing?

1: COMMIT YOURSELF TO FORGET YOUR FAILURES
2000yrs ago the Apostle Paul gave this advice: Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14). I don’t know of any more relevant and practical advice for us as we start 2009. He is telling us that we shouldn't allow things from our past to imprison us.

There are times for each of us when we fail in some way, and they are often recorded in our memories. Whether the failures are connected to a relationship with our children, our partner, or perhaps with our parents, for many of us they represent painful memories. Perhaps we can recall a time when a wrong decision or hurtful comment resulted in a damaged relationship. Some of us will undoubtedly recall occasions when we failed our children in some way, and many of us can recall a time when we failed our parents. Many of us know that we have failed ourselves in some way or another most of all. But we can learn from Scripture. What God’s Word is saying is that we must not allow ourselves to be bogged down by past failures, and that we must not dwell on our past so that it prevents us from moving forward into the future that God has waiting for us.

As you move into the New Year why not say to yourself that you are, with help of God, going to put your past where it belongs, firmly behind you. God doesn’t want you to go through your life branding yourself a failure. Christ died on the Cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins. When we choose to accept Jesus into our lives and become Christians then that forgiveness becomes a reality in our lives. Once we have received Christ’s forgiveness it allows us to forgive ourselves and forget our failures.

2: COMMIT YOURSELF TO GIVE UP YOUR GRUDGES
If you want to make 2009 a significant turning point in your life then take note of Paul's advice when he writes: Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. (Col 3:13). These words challenge you directly to relinquish any grudges that you are clinging on to. This is what is meant when Scripture says that we should forgive each other, whatever complaint we may have against one another.

A grudge is an unforgiving spirit that leads to unforgiving attitudes and unforgiving actions. Grudges are dangerous because they are destructive. They can destroy marriages, break up families, and ruin friendships. They are self-destructive, not just destructive. If you are holding a grudge against someone then God is telling you to give it up. When you hold a grudge against someone you hurt yourself as much, and perhaps more, than you will hurt the other person. People who continually harbour grudges are eventually destroyed by them both emotionally and spiritually, gradually becoming more and more bitter. God’s Word teaches that the way to give up a grudge is to forgive a grievance. God is not asking you to ignore whatever the person has done to you, nor to pretend it never happened, but to forgive the grievance, however much it hurt you. What better time to make the decision to forgive than the start of this New Year?

Never say that you can’t forgive, because what you really mean when you say that is that you won’t forgive. If Christ can forgive you your sin, despite the pain of the cross, then surely you can give up your grievance whatever the cost? The question is will you do it?

3: COMMIT YOURSELF TO RESTORING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS
We need to check whether our personal relationships are working properly. We are urged: If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18). The important phrase there is, so far as it depends on you, and it is God's personal challenge to each of us to do all we can to restore our relationships. He wants us to do everything we can to restore any relationships that have gone wrong in our lives. Some relationships might have gone wrong life because of what other people have done and they might not want that relationship restored. God recognises that, which is why He starts by saying ‘If its possible.’ But some of our relationships have gone wrong because of what we have done. When God’s word says, ‘as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone,’ it’s saying that if you have caused a rift in a relationship then you have a responsibility to do everything you can to restore it, including the one thing we all probably find most difficult, asking for forgiveness.

Make no mistake it will be hard to do, but one of the most significant things that you can do to mark the New Year is to admit your past errors in relationships and humbly seek forgiveness from the one you have hurt.

4: COMMIT YOURSELF TO TURN YOUR BACK ON ANY WRONGDOING.
Many Christians choose to continue to live as slaves to sin. Christ died to set them free, the Holy Spirit has given them the power to be free, but they still choose to obey their old master, sin. Listen to these words from Paul’s letter to the Romans: Do not let sin reign in your body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your embers as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace (Romans 6: 12-14)

God challenges you to turn your back on sin, whatever it is, and to stop giving in to it and letting it control the way you live. He wants you to change. We need to be clear about this: Jesus death broke the power of sin and the Holy Spirit give us the power to resist sin, and that means that you can go into this New Year victoriously. God says you are no longer a slave to sin, so don’t live like one or act like one.