A Resolution That Works

Me

New Year Resolutions are all about change. Doing something different that I didn’t do last year. Why do people seek change? We seek a yearly change because we were unsatisfied with last year’s result. We seek change because we want this year to be different and better than last year.

We seek change because we are not who we want to be.

We have this desire, because God also has this desire for you and me.

And so we make resolutions.

We

The New Year often brings a sense of optimism and hope. People are set on making and keeping their yearly resolutions. But why make a New Year Resolution?

New Year Resolutions are all about change. Doing something different that I didn’t do last year. Why do people seek change? We seek a yearly change because we were unsatisfied with last year’s result. We seek change because we want this year to be different and better than last year.

We seek change because we are not who we want to be.

We have this desire, because God also has this desire for you and me.

God wants a resolution within you.

But unlike most resolutions which seek to change our habits, God seeks to change and transform you. God doesn’t want to simply remove our sinful desires and tendencies, He wants to transform them into something different and perhaps for some of us, something new.

But how does one go about doing that?

God

The story of the Bible depicts largely two main groups. God and His Creation.

God wants the best for all of His created beings, but one of God’s greatest creations becomes self absorbed and self focused. This results in sinful acts, habits, and tendencies.

Throughout the Old Testament, God gives commands, makes promises, and sends messengers all for the purpose of realigning human hearts.

God’s faithfulness remains constant even when the people whom He loves so dearly are constantly faithless.

Through the prophets, we get to see what this has done to God’s heart.

Jeremiah 2:2–5 ESV

2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.” 4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

Jeremiah 2:2

God asks His people, what did I do, that has caused you to separate yourselves from Me?

God asked this question to Adam and Eve.

He asked this of Judas.

He asked this same question to Jonah.

God realized that He could not cure His people though commandments, promises, and messengers. Humans were not fighting against sin. Because sin had become who we are. Sin had become humanity’s identity.

So God began the long and painful process of transforming sin into love. Because if love would be our identity we would be very different people indeed.

Because when we are committed to sin we abandon God.

In order to understand this remarkable transformation that God seeks to see in your life, we are going to have a Bible Study together.

We are going to look at 4 bible texts that will help us understand the relationship between sin and love.

We will then learn how we can experience the love transformation in our own life.

Romans 3:20 ESV

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

1 John 3:4 ESV

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Romans 13:8 ESV

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

1 John 3:6 ESV

6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

You

You

Our sin identity is transformed into a love identity when we behold or experience Jesus. Did you experience Jesus last year?

Did you do more than read about Him? How do we experience Jesus?

We experience Jesus by seeing him through the scriptures and applying His characteristics to our life each day.

We experience Jesus by becoming genuine and authentic just how Jesus was authentic.

This means when you read that Jesus loved the undesirables. To be like Jesus would be to care for those who nobody wants instead of passing them by.

It means when you read in John that every choice and decision Jesus made was guided by His Father. You too would try it out and before every choice and decision, you are going to seek God in prayer.

It means that when you read about how the Old Testament God forgave his people, even though they tore His heart apart, that you should call those who have torn yours.

It isn’t enough to simply read about Jesus, in order to become changed, to become something better. To be like Jesus, we must act as Jesus acted.

Our actions and choices will begin to mold our hearts.

Our driving force in life won’t be sin. Sin that is selfish and self absorbed, but it will be love.

Love cares more for others. Love forgives. Sin holds grudges.

In this new year, become a person who loves by choosing to love.

We