RESOLUTIONS
January 2009! Resolutions are being formulated in the minds of many who have decided
to make some changes and/or to resolve to do better. The beginning of every year I resolve to lose weight and then I make that same resolution many times throughout the year. Especially the day after an eating frenzy! Another resolution is to read through the Bible! You know; cover to cover! I have followed many ‘read through the Bible’ programs and accomplished my goal at least once. I always seemed to get bogged down when it comes to the twelve books of Prophecy. However, I have read the New Testament many, many times!

In our little church in White City we would have a read through the Bible program and we had several who would read the Bible year after year. One little lady had read it almost 20 times. Another had read it 17 times. My Jim has read it least 10 times! Each time you read, something new catches your attention. It is too much to catch everything, so it is important that we take the time to read His word often. I have heard it said, "It is important to be in His word so that His word will be in you"!

What are some of the things you always start again at the beginning of a new year? Let me help you! How about cleaning the garage; The attic?; Closets; straightening kitchen cupboards and dresser drawers; Maybe it’s the pantry or the freezer; some probably need to throw away left overs from last year, that are still holding a spot in the refrigerator. For some, it could be some of these things. For others, life just keeps moving on because they have the ability to always have a place for everything and everything is in it’s place. Oh to be one of those!

Remember the proverbial junk drawer? I used to have that and junk room. It was suppose to be a bedroom but since it wasn’t being used as one, it was easy to just fill it with odds and ends that I wasn’t sure what to do with. That would be one of my favorite resolutions year after year. To clean the junk room! It would get rearranged and dusted but I had a problem with throwing anything away.

In Matthew 12, Jesus gives us a warning against seeking signs. At one point Jesus says in verse 39b; "But no sign shall be given, except the sign of the prophet Jonah". What was the sign of Jonah? It was that he would be in the belly of the whale three days and three nights; And so shall the Son of man be"! Then Jesus explains in verses 43-45 that the unclean spirits that inhabited our bodies will leave when we accept Jesus as our Savior. But this spirit has no place to go so it decides to return to it’s original abode. Upon returning he find’s it empty, swept clean, and all in order. This is nice, he says; and so he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself and they enter and begin setting up housekeeping once again. This poor fellow finds his state is now worse than it was before. Unless we fill our bodies and our minds with the Holy Spirit and recognize that He is within us by using our whole being in the service of the King, we will be among those within this perverse generation.

Making resolutions are okay! Making decisions to improve is good! We don’t have to wait for a new year to begin again with Jesus. Today, is the day of Salvation! "Jesus is so special that once you let Him enter your life, it becomes richer and fuller and more wonderful than you ever thought it could be". Have you any room for Jesus? Jane Ann