Well, it’s that time of year. The time to look back on the New Year’s
resolutions you made a few short days ago, and see how many of them you’ve
kept. It’s an annual ritual, is it
not? In fact, it is the breaking of the
New Year’s resolutions that seems to get more attention than the resolutions
themselves. There’s almost a perverse
glee in the fact that it is a rare occurrence when someone is able to keep
their resolution all the way through February.
So, I wanted to go a slightly different way with this ritual
and instead, encourage you to try again.
If you’ve fallen short of a resolution, or didn’t even make one because
you feel they’re just impossible to keep, try it. And if/when you fall short try it again. To whatever daunting resolution may lie
before, with whatever negative history you may have with it, give it a chance,
give it your all, and give it your best.
Especially if you’ve already been unable to keep at it this year. Consider this your permission to try new, with
a clean slate.
The word we use in the church for this is Grace, and it’s a
wonderful and powerful word. Grace means
forgiveness. Grace means hope. Grace means, when you fall short, when you
miss the mark, you are still loved. It
is the central theme of the Christian faith – Grace, and it is one we need to
hear every year. You see, the whole
reason Jesus came into this world was because people like you and me kept
failing. We kept falling short of
perfect, we kept messing up on our goals, our resolutions, on everything. And so Jesus came to give all of us grace. To say, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be forgiven.
It’s a powerful message to hear, and one that we desperately
need to hear again and again. So, in
your life, I encourage you to know and hear grace. If that’s related to something like a New
Years resolution, then fantastic. Don’t
beat yourself up about failing, know grace instead. Know that there’s nothing stopping you from
trying again. And perhaps that will lead
to something far greater. Perhaps
knowing grace in something as small as a New Years resolution will help you
know that Jesus offers a grace far greater, and far more life changing to you
every single day. No matter where you
are in life, no matter how short you think you’ve come, there is grace and
forgiveness for you. With good news
like that, can anything be so bad? And
with that, I hope you all have a very, Happy New Year!
Bill Walles
