Urgency in Making Resolutions for the New Year?

By Johnny Hester

    Stress and pressure is building. Here I sit at my computer on the last day of year, and Linda still hasn’t told me what my New Year’s Resolutions are. It momentarily occurred to me that perhaps I should resolve to give up all of my annoying habits developed over the past seven decades, but then I remembered my old football coach once telling me: “No one respects a quitter.” An obvious dilemma, but I’m not going to worry.
    For multitudes of people, deciding to develop a healthier lifestyle is a common resolution with which to begin the New Year. However, to my pleasant surprise my annual yearend physical indicates that my weight is perfect! However, it seems that I am approximately two and a half feet too short in height. My carefully considered response is, in the words of one of my all-time favorite philosophers, Alfred E. Neuman: “What—Me Worry?” After all, years ago I memorized the New King James Version of Jesus’ question in Matthew 6:27, “Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?” So worrying would be a waste of time and it wouldn’t make me any taller.
    Now—if you detect a grinding noise, it’s my brain trying to switch gears. On a more serious level it should be observed that there is a difference between profitless anxiety and legitimate concern. Worrying about things over which we have no control brings frustration to the mind and negativity to the spirit. On the other hand, legitimate concern—if rightly directed—can produce noble resolutions and significant improvements in the life one lives.
    In Proverbs chapter six God warns us about the folly of indolence, discourages procrastination and commends to us the wisdom of acting with resolve and energy in our own best interest.
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep —
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
    As we approach the new year we need to appreciate the need for urgency in setting worthwhile resolutions or goals.
    Love and Happy New Year to you and yours.

- Johnny Hester preaches for the Matthews Church of Christ in Matthews, MO. He may be contacted at johnnyhester@yahoo.com