Success and Failure Blog

Many people celebrate the New Year, and see it as a time of starting over. While anytime can bring a new beginning, the new year seems best for such resolutions because there is a logical change over to a new number.

Lots of people try to shake bad habits or start good habits during the new year. A person might wish to stop smoking or stop doing something else bad, or they may wish to pray more or draw closer to God. Or, just be kinder to one’s fellow man (though a vague resolution like that can be a bit of a copout unless one lays out some specific ways to do this.)

The Bible gives us 9 great things to cultivate – called “fruits of the Spirit” – in Galatians 5:22-23. By growing these in specific ways, instead of just saying, “I’ll be nicer,” we can have a brighter new year, follow God more closely if we know Him, or come to know Him as a loving, personal Savior and guide in life if we don’t yet know Him.

New Year’s resolutions are hard to keep because we are humans. It’s our nature to wander away from what we should do. “All we like sheep are gone astray, we have turned each one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity (sin) of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) That means we fall short of God’s standard of perfection.

Thankfully, when one simply trusts in Jesus by faith to save them – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31) – God makes them new on the inside. (2 Cor. 5:17) He begins a good work, and promises to complete it. (Philippians 1:6) However, while He keeps trying to work in us to make us more Christlike, our sin nature keeps holding us back unless we focus totally on Him. Even the great apostle Paul, near the end of Romans 7, complains that what he doesn’t want to do, he does, and what he wants to do, he doesn’t.

Thankfully, he finishes that chapter by stating that Jesus can save him from that “wretched state,” and that – to those in Christ Jesus – there is “now therefore no condemnation.” (Romans 8:1) When a person trusts in Jesus to forgive them of their sin, by faith, they can be sure that God will keep them from falling.” (Jude 24) In every situation, when we are faced with temptation to sin, He provides a way of escape so we don’t have to. (1 Cor. 10:13) he is strong enough to keep us saved (John 10:28-29) because He lives in believers through His Holy Spirit. We are sealed with it. (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30)

See, since we are sinners, we don’t have the strength to keep these things on our own. That’s why so many people fail at their resolutions. They are like small children who try to dress themselves, even though a parent is right there wanting to help. The child insists on doing it him/herself, and snaps are done wrong, heads try to go through sleeves,a nd it’s so mixed up you’d think their socks will wind up on their ears. Yes, small children need to try on their own since it’s a skill they’ll need – this isn’t a perfect illustration. But, it does show how we act when we have a loving God who wants to lovingly guide us Himself. This is why we must pray, too, though He knows our needs – He wants us to realize we can’t do it on our own and that we need His help.

This, then, is how to keep those New Year’s Resolutions – give them over to God. Let Him be the one to keep you from falling, instead of trying it on your own. And if you do fail once, simply go to Him and receive His great forgiveness. For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrightousness. (1 John 1:9)

So, what are those really good fruits that God wants us to grow in us? Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

The word “but” at the start shows there is something before that which is different – usually the opposite. In this case, God inspired Paul to write about things which our human flesh likes to do. Our carnal nature means that we don’t always like to do what’s right. We follow our lusts and tear others down, hate, act stubborn or selfish, and so on.

You may say, “Wait, unsaved people can be kind, gentle, etc..” Yes, but not to the extent and often not in the proper manner that the Holy Spirit builds these fruits in us. Let’s look at each of these very briefly and see how we can have a great New Year trusting in God to grow these fruits in us, instead of trying to do it on our own.

Love

The world is decent here. Still, there is such confusion about what love is. Some use it when they mean lust. But, the physical never lasts. Others use it to mean that they care about someone as long as they do something for them. For the most part, an unsaved family can be a very close-knit and loving one, of course. They might be able to come close to the unconditional love God provides, because it’s built into us.

However, only through God can we truly love as Christ did. I’m reminded of an illustration of a father that I read in an e-mail. His son was allergic to bee stings – a bee sting could even kill him. So, he saw a bee buzzing around his son, grabbed it in his hand, and took the stinger himself, so it wouldn’t be a threat. Now, if you expand that, the same loving father might do this for his son’s friend, or maybe even a total stranger. Some have given their lives to save strangers they didn’t know. But, God’s love is much deeper.

God’s love means that He takes the sting of death for His enemies, those who hate him and want nothing to do with Him – He still tasted death for them. Because, all of us were once this way. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) So, that means that for the Spirit to help us love others more, we need to love our enemies. We need to care about others and be willing to pray for them. We certainly need to help others and reach out to those who are hurting even if it means we’ll get teased for it. We need to protect the bullied of our society and show them how to let the Lord help them through things.

Joy

The world has joy, but too often it is at the expense of others. Now, if someone is able to laugh at themselves – and we all need to be better at that (the next fruit gives us that) but the problem with the world’s joy is that it’s full of raunchiness and filthy language and other bad things at times. A couple boys I know were introduced via YouTbue to some classic comedians of the 1940s-1960s era by their father. They said these comedians were the funniest they’d ever heard.

Joy isn’t just laughter, though. It’s being happy even when times are bad. That’s because the Spirit helps us take our mind off of our own worries and focus on God. Many verses in the Bible show people who felt joy in knowing God would be with them even in the worst of times. The world can’t do this, and even Christians have trouble with this when they focus on themselves. Always remember, Paul wrote Philippians – a book which talks a lot about feeling joy – from a Roman prison. If he could do that, God can give us joy, too.

Peace

When we cast all our cares on Jesus, He can give us a “peace that passeth understanding.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Instead of being full of worry, God can give us peace. Even in the worst of times, we can know for sure we are going to Heaven (1 John 5:13, John 3:16, etc.), know for sure God loves us, and so on. We cultivate this fruit through faith.

Longsuffering

This word for patience hits the nil on the head when it comes to a description. Sometimes, patience means we must put up with a lot. Anyone who has ever had small children knows what this is like. Thankfully, they do eventually grow up, and if we do a good job of leading by example and explaining that example to them, they will follow.

God gives us a much greater ability, though. He can put verses or hymns in our mind when we most need them. He can give us words to say that can calm the storms of life. He wants to help us in this crazy world. The Bible warns that at the end of times, “The love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:12 – 2 Timothy 3:1-3 show how these others declining, like we see today, show that the Lord is close to returning.) One reason this is true is that there is so much less patience than there used to be. Another is that we don’t take time to think of others in our busy schedules. These two are tied together. When we take time to think of others, we realize others matter and that we need to be more patient.

It’s hard for us on our own. But, God can work wonders in us if we trust Him.

Gentleness

As noted in the comment on joy about, there is so much more coarseness and vulgarity today. Gentleness isn’t just a gentle touch, it’s an attitude, one that says we’re not going to be really harsh or overly critical or anything else beyond what is needed. At times the world has always been too rough. But Godly people, following the Spirit, have always known how to approach others with the right amount of tenderness. And, that’s different for different people. For instance, Jude 22-23, where God’s Word tells us to tell others of His love in different ways, some needing compassion because of what they’ve been through, others, needing stern warnings.

How do we know which is which? Again, we need the Lord to show us. At times, the world tries to have everything gentle, but that is doing it the world’s way, to draw praise from people, not God’s way. God’s way is like Jesus with the woman caught in adultery. (John 8:1-11) He was gentle and showed He cared, but He still came out and said her sin was sin, and told her “Go, and sin no more.” If you’re like me, you can see Him saying this in a more tender manner than He spoke to the Pharisees, but he still said it.

Goodness

This is fairly easy, and brings a lot of the others into it. It requires that we know what is good, which is hard for us to do without God. Without Him, we just try to make others see us. Jesus said that we should do good to others without trying for praise ourselves; instead, we must let our lights so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Faith

Once we trust Jesus to forgive us and save us from our sin, He helps us to have faith by giving us things to pray for or go through that help us to see our reliance on Him. The more we do, the more He’ll call us to do. People like George Muller, the great English man of faith who helped many orphans in the 19th century, was a great testimony to what one person can do when they put all their faith in God. He is the kind of person we should all strive to be this New Year.

Meekness

The world is wrong when they say it means weakness. Meekness means gently loving and having power but choosing not to use it. So, it’s got parts of gentleness, goodness, and a few others. When we are meek, we let God handle the situation instead of trying on our own strength.

Temprance

This word, meaning self-control, probably encompasses the vast majority of all New Years resolutions. It stretches from not flying off the handle at everyone to not devouring boxes of candy, and everywhere in between. It means not losing it at that person who cuts you off while driving, knowing they may have a sick relative they are rushing to see. It means so many things the world just can’t do very well, though some do better than others.

We need the Holy Spirit for this. Like Paul, we’re going to have trouble, but instead of just saying, when we do, “Oh, well, I broke my resolution, now I can go back to how I was,” we must confess and forsake that sin and ask the Lord to change us and help us not to sin.

He will do this for His children, but the first prayer He hears and says “yes” to is that of a repentant sinner coming to Him for salvation. Yes, He may answer yes to another prayer from that person, but only because someone else happened to pray the same thing, or He did it on His own to draw that person to Him.

He is always trying to draw us toward Him. He wants us to realize the things I’ve said above. He wants each of us to see as I saw years ago, that I was a sinner in need of a Saviour. That Christ died for my sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and rose again the third day. Just call on Him by faith to save you. (Romans 10:9,10,13; Ephesians 2:8-9, etc.) It’s as easy as ABC – Admit, Believe, Choose.

Once you have done that, God’s Word promises to develop the fruits of the Spirit, but He also warns us not to quench the Spirit. It is so much easier when we follow the Lord. Just always remember, we don’t do it because we have to. We follow Him because we get to. He promises to give us life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10) Part of that abundant life is helping us to grow to be more Christlike by growing those fruits of the Spirit.

Because, so much of what we seek – like the things I mentioned the world seeking above – don’t last. Whenever we try to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, or the pride of life (1 John 2:16), we wind up feeling emptier later. That’s another reason why people can’t always keep their resolutions – they need something to fill themselves with instead.

This year, let us resolve to fill those empty places with the fruits of the Spirit.

Reflecting on Resolutions

Well here we are again, another year is gone and a new year a waits us, but what does that really mean to us individually, to the whole of humanity?

Generally at this time of year most of us are busy making plans to “Party Hardy” or “Make New Year’s Resolutions” that are for the most part lost in our own ambiguity.  Yet would it not be more prudent to be pondering on our thoughts and actions of the past, in order to improve the future?  Perhaps it seems overly introspective, but have you ever asked yourself “What am I really committed too and what is it that I value above all else?”  Could one or more of your answers be; Money, Power, Influence, Acquisitions or perhaps you have identified so strongly with your job, as being a means to worth. If so, I guess my question would be the same as Jesus’; “What good would it do to attain the whole world and lose your own soul?”

What if we take to heart what we are really committed too and why, and identify what those things really mean to us, those intimately around us and the world as a whole.   After all Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “Commitment” as;

1 a : an act of committing to a charge or trust:

2 c : the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled <a commitment to a cause>

“How many of us actually take these two extremely important time frames of passage, from old and new, whether it be minute to minute, month to month or year to year  to heart and instead simply transition with little or no reflection of the opportunities lost or the successes to be gained in our personal relationships to others and Christ?”

As I grew up, I used to hear an old saying that goes something like this, “All things are fleeting and pass away and only what’s done for Christ will last.” Yet most people would say that those who take this message to heart really don’t understand what’s really important and valuable to the people of the world.  However I would beg to differ with that conclusion and instead believe it identifies the essence of what life is all about and exemplifies what is really valuable.

Imagine implementing all of the words to the popular Beatles song “Imagine”.  After all there seems to be tremendous acceptance of that ideology, because it probably evokes a warm fuzzy feeling when you become nasolgic about those four young men. But I would ask you to actually hear the words and point they made around the world using their musical talents:

Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people, Living for today… Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too, Imagine all the people, Living life in peace… You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one, Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world…
But what if I pointed you to Christ, the only begotten Son of God, does that warm fuzzy feeling suddenly get lost and instead you no