Friday, January 1, 2016

God's Resolutions

Did you make a New Year's Resolution?  I usually don't but I think they're very good.  People make resolutions to lose weight, get in shape, spend more time with family, read the Bible more, cuss less, etc and all of this is good.  New Year's Resolutions are normally good things.

Did you know that only 8% of New Year's Resolutions are successfully achieved?

That's not good news but I have good news.  God has made resolutions and He keeps every one of them.

God resolves to do many things for you and He will accomplish it.  In fact, one of the names we use for God highlights this.  Yahweh is the most precious name for God that the Jews have and outside of Jesus it is the most sacred name of God that Christians have, too.  Yahweh means "I Am".  This is the name that our God used when He made covenants (otherwise known as resolutions) with us.  Yahweh is the God of the covenant.  Now, God is called many other things, El Shaddai (God Almighty), El Olam (God Everlasting), El Roi (the God Who Sees), Adonai (Lord), but it's Yahweh that is most precious because of the promises associated with that name.  In fact, when you read our English Bible and see LORD in all caps that is Yahweh the God who has made a covenant with us.

God is called Yahweh because He made a covenant with us.  God resolved to do something for us, but how can we be sure that He will keep His resolution when we only keep ours 8% of the time?

"Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."  Hebrews 6:17-19a

It is impossible for God to lie so we know 100% of the time that He keeps His resolutions!

This is part of what makes Christianity so amazing.  There are scores of religions in which people resolve to do something for a god.  Christianity says that God has resolved to do something for us.  If our hope was contingent upon us keeping a promise to God then we have a huge problem, just look at the 8% stat at the top of this page.  Since our hope rests upon God keeping His promises to us we have every reason to own a sure hope.  This sets Christianity apart from every religion.

Today make a resolution and try your best to keep it.  Go to the gym more, eat more carrots, read more books.  Above all remember that if you are a Christian, one who has "fled to take hold of the hope offered us", God has made resolutions that He will keep, guaranteed.  Hold on to that hope firm and secure today.

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