Matthew 5 – 6:4

What a great passage to read at the start of a New Year! I didn’t make a new year resolution but like many people at this time of the year I have been thinking about what happened in 2012 and what’s coming in 2013. Reading these pages has made me realise that I shouldn’t have just drifted through fond memories of things that I enjoyed last year or dreamed of long-wished-for possibilities for this. I should be measuring what I did last year and what I plan to do this against these guidelines.

Have I got my motivations right in giving to the needy and in every other area of my life?   Do I recognise when a temptation starts and put a stop to it straight away? When somebody annoys me, do I put a hold on to my temper and treat them with love or do I let it fester and become bitter and twisted?

Am I seeking and showing the qualities in my life that Jesus praised? Do I hunger and thirst to be as he wants? Does my faith show in my life? Am I reflecting his brilliance to others through my life? Am I preserving his way through my words and actions?

I’d love to say that the answer to all these questions is yes, yes, yes that’s me….but the truth is that it’s no, no, no. I can’t do or be any of these things consistently in my own strength. It’s only as I look to Jesus and let him work in me that I begin to change. My part is first to really want to know him, secondly to want to become like him and finally to seek his voice as he works to change me.

I think I’ve found my New Year resolution.

Marion