New Year's Resolutions

      It’s that time again! If the Lord wills, the new year will ring in at midnight this Monday morning, and I hope that the year 2024 will be a prosperous and wonderful time for everyone!  Making New Years’ resolutions is a tradition that many people make at the beginning of each year, with varying levels of success in keeping those resolutions. Making New Years’ resolutions is a good way to try to improve one’s self and one’s life, but there are a few resolutions that we should all be making and keeping each and every year. All of the resolutions that I am talking about have to do with worshipping God as we need to, and being the faithful Christian that we all need to be! 

1. Study your Bible everyday! II Timothy 2:15 says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  We are to study our Bibles every day so that we can become spiritually stronger and also teach others about God. Studying our Bibles also helps us physically, mentally, and emotionally. I know that when I read my Bible every day, my day goes so much better, and my outlook is more positive throughout the day!

2. Pray often. I Thessalonians 5:17 states, “Pray without ceasing.”  We should pray throughout the day, many times a day. Having a healthy prayer life helps to keep us spiritually strong, and it helps us bear the challenges in this life much easier. It is my goal to get to the point in my life where I have prayed so much during the course of a single day, that  I lose track of how many prayers I have said in that day! We should pray in both prosperous times and in times of need.  We should always thank God for all of our many blessings, and we all have many, many blessings bestowed unto us by God! 

3. Attend worship services regularly. We are commanded in Hebrews 10:25 to not “forsake the assembling of ourselves together” meaning that we should not forsake the assembling of the church for worship services. We are to assemble together on the first day of the week (Sunday) as Jesus’ disciples did during the early days of the church. Allowing our jobs, school activities, or recreational activities keep us from attending worship services as we are commanded means that we are not putting God first in our lives as we are supposed to do. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

​4. Strive to convert at least one person to Christ. We, as Christians, are required to seek out and help save the lost. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” (Matthew 28:19). We should do all we can to help those who are spiritually lost to learn more about what God expects them to do in order to go to Heaven. We should never take the stance that the spiritual state of others is none of our business. On the contrary, God will hold Christians accountable for the souls that they have failed to try to save (James 4:17). We will not be held accountable concerning whether or not the lost person does decide to become faithful, however, we will have to answer to God for not trying to teach others at all. 
         
          Please make the 2024 the year that you grow stronger as a Christian. Make sure that the four resolutions that I’ve mentioned above, be ones that you are sure to keep, for they are the most important things that you can do in this life. So, while the rest of the world is concerned about making New Years’ resolutions that involve the temporary things of this life, let us as children of God work to show more of Christ and less of ourselves in the New Year! 

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