Endure to the End

It's a new year, and people are talking about their resolutions. Actually, most people are joking about breaking their resolutions already! I heard that most resolutions last on an average of 13 days. If you are average, you've got a few more days to go from the posting of this blog....

There is something about having a starting point that we can use to refresh our lives. We make resolutions on New Year's Day, and make plans for our lives when our birthdays roll around. We go to church and decide that we are not going to sin any more (okay - maybe we don't make that claim, but we do decide to make certain changes in our lives!), and we promise not to speed again when the officer pulls us over. We use a certain time to indicate the beginning. Something that acts as an anchor to connect us to our desired changes.

Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe we need to have something that shakes us up a bit and gets us to look at what we can do to improve our lives. There is no growth if we are satisfied with our current state. There is no discovery if we are comfortable.

That is what is so difficult. It seems that we work so hard to be comfortable, and then when we reach that state we die. Maybe not physically, but any development and growth ceases. The truth is - when we are satisfied we are finished.

Is that the same in our spiritual life? Is it possible to get to the place where we no longer find spiritual things to excite us, the place where we feel we know enough, where we can let the younger people do the work, where we can enjoy the benefits of all that we have done in the past, and end up dying spiritually? Oh, it may not show on the outside that we are dead, but what happens in the inside?

This is a new year - but have you decided there is something that you are going to do to make this a growing year - truly a "new" year? If we do things the same way we have always done them, we will get the same results. In other words - if nothing changes, nothing changes! Are you satisfied with that? Is there more waiting for you that will transform your life?

Jesus said "He that endures to the end, the same will be saved." (Matthew 10:22). He didn't say, "He that is comfortable will be saved" or "He that has learned to relax in his spiritual life will be saved." You only endure through the tough times. No one says, "I had a piece of cake to eat, but I endured to the end." It's the challenging times that require endurance. It's in endurance that change is born.

No one can make a decision for change except you. You are the one that needs to weigh the pros and cons, to decide if the end result is worth the effort. But when it comes to your spiritual life - there is so much that is at stake. Eternity is waiting. But not for long.

What is your spiritual resolution today?

God bless you abundantly!