Do Not Resolve, Just Submit

Happy New Year!  It's 2012!  I have been married to my new bride for almost 3 years, grandchild number 10 was born in 2010 and number 11 will be here toward the end of the Spring.  Truly, 2012 is already been an exciting time.  When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2012, the first thing that came to mind is that a lot of New Year's Resolutions are going to be put into full swing from a lot of people all over the world.  Of course, it's no small wonder that out of all of them, only 17-19% of them are successful.  So, then, it hit me.  Why do they fail at such a substatrial rate, usually after January 31?  Experts say that it's because the plans people make are way too lofty for anyone to achieve and once they get overwhelmed or come to the realization that the commitment is too big, they quit and are back to where they were this time last year.

After reading God's Word, it's obvious He already knew what kind of people we would become.  That's why He told us to lay our cares and burdens on Him (1 Peter 5:6-8, Matthew 11:28-30).  No matter if we try to use the Power of Positive Thinking, write it all down, go to Academy or Home Depot and get everything we say we need, we still have to deal with this:

You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? (Romans 6:16-19, The Message)  So, now, let us decide that, in 2012 we will not be bound by any grandiose New Year's Resolution, but will just DO what we know we need to do to make things happen this year.

As with everything, the flesh is our biggest enemy to succeed (There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin, Psalm 38:3, KJV).  That's probably why The Lord had Paul tell us in Ephesians 2:3 about "the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind..."  Your flesh is NOT going to want to exercise, quit smoking, modefy eating habits, or make you be less unhappy or cranky.  Your flesh is NOT going to want to resist that piece of cake, drinking too much, yeasty bread, or ice cream.  It isn't going to want to be faithful to Bible Study, church attendence, writing that book or keeping a budget.  So, are we doomed?  Not at all.  We just need to do one thing:  James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God..."

Does that seem too simple or even the opposite of simple?  I guess it depends on what you want to serve.  Think about this:  God wants to give us our heart's desire, but what He desires more is your submission, just like in Matthew 6:32-34.  The problem with New Year's Resolutions is that they take in and on the whole year and not one day at a time, one obstacle at a time, one challenge at a time.  Once something goes wrong or gets in the way of things, people quit, whine and dive into self-pity.  All God wants to do is to help you though so you can be true to what you want to do.  Spending time with Him will help you "die to yourself" (Ezekiel 36:26-28, Galatians 5:16) and make sure to always bring to Him what you want to accomplish in your life (1 Peter 5:6-8).  So what do you say?  Shall we go into 2012 submitting ourselves to God so we can look back on December 31, 2012 and say, Wow!  Did I really do that?