One Simple Resolution

Would you like a short cut for your New Year’s resolutions? I like things to be simple. Complicated almost never works for me. That’s one reason I like the Bible so much. When life seems complicated and overwhelming, the Bible has a way of clearing all of that up. I’ll share how the Bible uncomplicates our New Year’s resolutions in just a minute. First, though, let’s remind ourselves why we should make resolutions in the first place.

It’s the New Year and, like me, you probably want 2014 to be better than 2013 was. That’s what New Year’s resolutions are supposed to do. They can be so frustrating, though! We all know that, regardless of how sincere we are, most of our resolutions rarely do any good. It doesn’t seem to matter how badly we want them to, either.

 Maybe a lot of the problem is that our resolutions are too complicated. Life is already complex enough, and when we add another layer of things to do or things not to do, it usually adds to our frustration. We want our lives to be better. We may even make up our minds that that we will do better, but when we fail, it only gives us more things to get discouraged about.

 One day some experts in Jewish Law confronted Jesus and asked Him what He thought was the greatest commandment. They were actually just trying to start an argument. They had already combed through the Old Testament and found 613 commandments. 365 of them were negative, things you were not to do, and 248 of them were positive commandments. These experts would look through that list and argue among themselves about which ones were the most important. Now that is really complicated!

 Jesus gave them an answer that was so simple that it left them speechless. Jesus recited two quotes from the Old Testament: “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40). In other words, you can list all the commands you want, but loving God and serving others is what God really wants. It is just that simple.

 Notice that Jesus was pointing out that THE most important thing in life is loving God. That’s the top priority because God created us so we could have a relationship with Him (see Revelation 4:11). God never gave us a list of do’s and don’ts so that we could earn His love. Obedience can never be a pathway to God’s favor. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

 Here is a simplified New Year’s resolution: Resolve to love God more. How do we do that? First, we have to get to know Him. We can do that by reading His Word. The Bible is His gift to us. In it He tells us the story of how our world was ruined by sin, and the amazing sacrifice God Himself made in order to save us and fix our planet forever.

 Are you asking yourself why you should love God? As you read the Bible, you will find the answer to that question. God himself became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a sinless life, and yet willingly died on the cross to take the punishment for our sin. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation