New Years commitments

"Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets, all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant." -2 Kings 23:1-3

In light of the new year, many people create new goals for themselves, renew old commitments, and make promises in regards to the future of their relationships. Nothing new. The same goals and commitments were made 2636 years ago as well. Although if you look carefully into it, there may be a great difference between the ones we are making for the year 2014 and the commitment Josiah and the Israelites made a few millenniums ago. Firstly, the covenant Josiah and the nation of Judah renewed to the Lord was in light of their mistakes, their hypocrisy and their unfaithfulness. But, just as Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, they would not have been convicted of their unfaithfulness had it not been for the Law of the Lord. Josiah insisted upon the renewal of a whole hearted commitment to God because he had read the Holy word of God. And because of Josiah's humility shown in performing the inconvenient task of submitting to the Lord, as the king of a great nation, the prophesied Israelite exile to Babylon was not to occur until after his death.

Now while Josiah's "new year's resolution" was completed and proved to be wise, I would venture to say that the majority of the new year's resolutions this year will either fail or be completed only to be proved meaningless. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:12, "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." If when creating goals for this upcoming year, we compare ourselves with what occurred in our lives in previous years, we are setting ourselves up for failure. To compare imperfection to imperfection will always prove futile. In order to set goals that prove to be beneficial, and complete them, we must create them based on a higher standard than our own, in light of our own imperfection. Just as an owner's manual is written by the creator of the car and not by the driver of the car, we must learn to listen to the instructions of our own Creator, in the word of God. This year I encourage you to make God's plans your plans instead of adding to the same sloppy standards we've failed to perfect since childhood.

"Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did, with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with the Law of Moses." -2 Kings 23:25