Vineyard Church of Knox County
New Year’s Resolutions God’s Way
New Year's resolutions. Have you made any? Have you kept them or have you broken them already? Please excuse my cynicism. I know that we make resolutions with the proper motive, to "improve" ourselves in the new year, but too often those resolutions do not pan out. Why don't we fulfill them? I believe it is because our resolutions are simply self-generated visions of what we think we are supposed to be or do; they aren't God-generated. In other words, we create our own vision for our lives instead of asking what God wants for us, and that results in our shooting for a target that is impossible to hit. God does want us to improve, but He wants to be the One to give us the resolutions. And the cool thing is, when we let God decide our resolutions, He also gives us the power to fulfill them. When we are in harmony with the heart of God, we find that fruits of our labor are simply natural byproducts of our walk with Him.
So, just like you, I want to “improve” in the year 2004 (by improve I mean I want to become more like Jesus ( see Rom. 8:28-29 ) and as a result become more like myself). Beyond my personal development, I want to see VCKC develop and improve, too. Our mission statement (the statement that drives everything we do in the church) can be understood as a God-generated New Year’s resolution. We believe God has called us (i.e. given us a New Year’s resolution), “to develop a worshiping community of mature, empowered disciples of Jesus that transforms the world with the powerful love of God one person at a time for the glory of God.” Since this is God-generated, we believe that God wants to make this happen and that He will provide the means to fulfilling it. It is our job to put forth the needed effort, give all that we can give, always relying on His power as we work.
Won’t it be fun to look back at this time next year, early in the year 2005, and see how God has worked His good as we do our best to work with Him? I encourage you to make a personal commitment to seeking God’s vision for your life in 2004 instead of your own. And commit to laboring with us as we labor with God as He develops this church into a “city of light” in a dark world.
