New Year’s Resolutions
By Johnie Edwards

With the coming of a new year comes those new year’s resolutions! Many are made only soon to be broken. This time of year does serve a good purpose of considering some spiritual resolutions which would be good for all of us to make and keep.

No Longer To Linger. The song, I Am Resolved serves as a reminder of some good resolutions. If you have not become a Christian, it is a good time to resolve to become one and quit lingering. Don’t be charmed by the world’s delight. Be aware there are things that are nobler. So a good question is: “…what wait I for?” (Psa. 39:7).

To Go To The Saviour. All of us would do well to go to the Lord at this time of the year as well as the rest of the year. One reason for going to Him is because He “has the words of eternal life...” (Jn. 6:68). As one goes to Christ, he leaves his sins as they are remitted at baptism (Acts 2:38). As Jesus is the “saviour of the body, the church...” (Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:24); you will be “added to the church” (Acts 2:47).

To Follow Jesus. Since Jesus is the living way, we are instructed to follow Him. Peter declared, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).

To Enter The Kingdom. There is no greater resolution than that of being a citizen in the kingdom of God. The kingdom often has reference to the Lord’s church (Matt. 16:18- 19). We enter the kingdom by being “born of water and of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:3-5). This takes place when one is “baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27).

To Be More Faithful. The Lord’s people are described as “stewards,” and they must “be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:1). A lot of church members choose not to be counted faithful. If we expect the Lord to say, “Well done,” we must “be faithful” (Matt. 25:21). Do you need to make a resolution on this count?

To Be The Best Example. There is a great demand for some good example setting! Fellow workers need it, our children need it, and other church members need it. After all, we must “shine as lights in the world” (Matt. 5:14-16; Phil. 2:15). May each of us plan to be the best example as folks “read our epistle” (2 Cor. 3:2).

Don’t forget to keep your resolutions! –  Back to Basics, January 2008. 

Challenges for the New Year
By Greg Gwin

The beginning of a new year provides an excellent opportunity for us to pause, ponder, plan, and prepare for the future. We hope that the new year will especially cause us all to think about our spiritual service to God and how we can improve in the fulfillment of our duties to Him. Let us challenge you in these specific areas:

Spend more time in prayer. Don’t allow the day to begin or end without spending time in prayer to God. Throughout the day, stop and petition Him for help and strength. And, by all means, don’t just wait for a crisis to develop before you think to pray. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

Study your Bible more consistently. Use one of the available daily Bible reading calendars, or come up with your own plan to read on a regular basis. Don’t just rush through a few verses. Instead, really study the text to learn its meaning. Before you end a reading session, think about how you can make application of what you’ve read in a real and practical way. “Give attendance to reading...” (1 Tim. 4:13).

Attend every Bible study and worship in this New Year. This, of course, is your duty – but it is also a privilege. BE HERE! Make this a high priority. Why would you not want to be present to worship God and study His Word? “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...”  (Heb. 10:25).

Teach the lost. We all have friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members who are lost in sin. They NEED us to share the gospel with them. Make a firm commitment to reach at least one of them with the “good news” this year. If each Christian would bring just one person to the Lord each year, we could soon convert the whole world. Let’s do it! “Go ye therefore and teach all nations...” (Matt. 28:19).

Live a pure, godly life. Nothing else matters if we are not living faithfully for the Lord. Think about this, and let it be manifested in how you talk, where you go, who you associate with, how you dress, etc. Others are looking to you, and evaluating Christianity on the basis of what they see of it in you. “Ye are the light of the world...let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16).

In a very real sense, having a “Happy New Year” depends on how well you fulfill your spiritual duties to God. Think! – Collegevue church of Christ Bulletin, January 3, 2016. 

New Year’s Hesitations
By Larry Ray Hafley

“I’ve made my New Year’s hesitations,” the man said. “Oh, don’t you mean you’ve made your New Year’s resolutions,” said his friend. “No, I mean ‘hesitations’ because I hesitate to think that I might actually have to keep’em.”

Is that the way we pledge and promise to keep our resolve to serve God? “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few....a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Eccl. 5:2-5).

Count the cost (Lk. 14:25-33). Pay the price (2 Tim. 3:12). Let the Lord, who has purchased you, help you bear your burdens (Matt. 11:28-30; Gal. 6:5). Then, by the power of prayer through fervent faith, make firm your resolution to serve him without hesitation! – Truth Magazine online. 

“13 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil” (Jas. 4:13-16).