Resolutions

Gym Memberships And Other Failed Resolutions

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Gym owners love this time of the year, I an told. So many people take out yearly memberships in January to fulfil a New Years Resolution “to get fit this year.” Add that to the people who thoughtfully buy memberships as Christmas gifts, and it’s a golden time for the gyms.

Then, the story goes, by the end of February 90% of the people with these brand new gym memberships and good intentions just stop showing up.

It’s like that with most of our resolutions and intentions to become better people. Whether it’s losing weight, giving up smoking or drinking less, it is really hard to change our behaviours and habits. It is as if we become prisoners of our own choices.

In the Bible, the apostle Paul puts it this way: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.”

We know what we should do, but often it is really hard to do, and we end up doing the wrong thing. Even with the best will, we find it hard to resist temptation, and we give in to doing the wrong thing, even when we know we shouldn’t be doing it.

Paul goes on to says this: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

The way out of these addictions to doing the wrong thing is to surrender them to Jesus, and ask Him to change you. Change comes from the inside and flows out to our actions not the other way around.

Now, where’s that gym card. I might just give it a go.

Forget Your Resolutions

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resoluition

I woke up in the night with this thought: “Actions flow from values. That’s why resolutions usually fail.”

At this time of the year, there is a lot of pressure to come up with a “new you” for the new year. There is a tradition for many people of making a resolution to change our actions in January, but very few of these make it into February.

We do the things we do because we value them in some way. To find out what are the important things in your life mark on a calendar everything you do in a typical month. Then write down what you spend your money on. That is the map of your values.

We all have 168 hours every week. Knock out 100 hours for work and sleep and you still have 68 hours every week that is yours to spend or invest, to waste or do something fruitful with.

People say, “I should pray more” or “I need to go to church more often” but they don’t do it because they don’t really value what they are saying they need to do.

To change your life you have to change your values and priorities, because you will do what you value.

Want to pray more? Read books about prayer until you love praying and can’t get enough. Then set aside a time every day and just do it.

Want to get fit? Find some activity that you really enjoy and you won’t have to worry about a fitness plan. I’ve tried a few things, but riding my push bike is the best exercise ever- if I miss a couple of days, my body and brain just miss it.

Need to go to church more? Well what stops you? Is it because you feel entitled to the Sunday morning sleep in, or coffee with friends? Go to bed earlier. Reschedule the coffee time. Determine in your heart that church is higher priority than anything else on a Sunday morning and put it in your phone calendar.

Don’t make resolutions you won’t keep because that just doesn’t work. Instead look at what your time and money say about what you prioritise and make a decision to value more highly the things that are really important. Cultivate a love or a passion for the good stuff and then go for it.