At the beginning of each calendar year most us have the habit of making new goals. The phrase often used is “new year, new goals.” These resolutions are rooted in our desire to improve our lives. Such improvement may be health related, financially driven, professionally related, or otherwise. The problem? In order to achieve our goals, we need to be disciplined. We need to create habits. We need consistency, and that does not happen overnight.

This year at Crossroads Fellowship, where I work on staff as a pastor, we have a vision for 2020 as the Year of Transformation. The goal? To have our entire congregation read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in 12 months. In order to accomplish that, we have encouraged folks to do a yearlong Bible Reading plan where a portion of the Scriptures is read each day. So far over 1000 people have signed up to follow the plan. The questions looming in the air: Will they finish? Will they persevere in reading the whole Bible in a year? We’ll have to wait until December 31, 2020 to find out! But what is it going to take? Discipline.

Discipline simply involves training over time, which eventually turns into desired outcomes. The movement of discipline is not complex. It simply involves “start, stop, and repeat.” For instance, if you want to get well physically, you’ll have to go to the gym, start your workout, stop it, and repeat it again the next day. If you want to see results from your physical work out you’ll have to “start, stop, and repeat” every day for a long time. When I think of the word “discipline,” I often times think of the word “disciple.” The word “disciple” literally means “learner.” A disciple of Christ should be characterized for his constant desire to grow and learn from his Master. A disciple is one who starts reading God’s Word, stops to reflect on it, then reads it over and over again. The same is true with prayer and other Christian disciplines.

Over 14 years of full-time ministry work I have had multiple conversations with people about their spiritual condition. Just as people seek a doctor when they are sick, often times folks will come to a pastor when they want to get spiritually healthy. As I probe into their condition, often times they lack two basic things: 1) consistent reading of God’s Word, and 2) consistent time in prayer. Christ followers must never forget that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete not lacking anything” (2 Timothy 3:16). And we must not forget that prayer should be constant in the lives of those who love God. Paul says in Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” As Martin Luther is known to have said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

Some people believe resolutions are a great idea, while others despise it. I think resolutions are not inherently bad. They communicate one’s desire to grow for a new season in life. What we must understand, as Christ followers is that our end goal is to always glorify God! As the Westminster Catechism puts it: “The chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” If your goal is to glorify the Lord in everything you do, then he will bless it. Moreover, he will be glorifying in and through you. If our goals line up with his will, then, by his grace, they will come into fruition. As Paul put it,

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Don’t give up! “Start, stop, repeat’ … then do it again, and again, and again for the glory of Christ! Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, seek God’s Word, and stay encouraged!

Written by Daniel Messina

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