January 1st, 2022 – Resolutions
Experiencing God Devotional
John 21:15 – So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.
Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had been capable of being Jesus’ disciple when he was unfaithful to Jesus in His most crucial hour.
As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you have failed your Lord in many ways. Perhaps you were not faithful. Perhaps you disobeyed His word to you. Perhaps you denied Him by the way you lived. Jesus will take you aside, as He did Peter. He will not berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” If your answer, like Peter’s, is “Yes, Lord,” He will reaffirm His will for you. If you truly love Him, you will obey Him (John 14:15). Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.
Blackaby, Richard. Experiencing God Day By Day (p. 2). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Pastor’s Thoughts
I have said it before and I will say it again, God does not need you or me. He has no needs.
Sometimes we can find ourselves telling ourselves that God is lucky to have us or the opposite, that God must be disappointed with how much we have let Him down.
The amazing truth is that God’s love is never changing. He loves you the same today as He loved you when you were born. There is nothing good or bad that you or I could ever do that would change how much God loves us. That does not mean that our sins do not have consequences, because they do. What it means is our sin does not decrease God’s love for us.
I tell you this because I do not want you all starting your New Year all excited about how you are going to do this or that to help God out or to make Him love you more.
Does this mean we should not increase our efforts in growing spiritually this year? Of course not. What this means is to make sure that as you are thinking about what you are going to do or not do that it lines up with God’s Word and that you are doing these things out of your love for Him and your gratitude for what Jesus did for you on the cross.
For the year 2022, the greatest thing you can do for your faith in Jesus is grow in your love for Him and for those that He loves.
Have a blessed Saturday everyone and have a great New Year’s Day!
PS. Don’t forget to make plans now on where you will be worshipping Jesus tomorrow and having everything ready for you and or your family to start the year the right way. Fellowshipping with other believers in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of growing God’s Kingdom.
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