Tag: Resolution

Going Through the Motions

Published on by nickcady1 Comment

man wearing yellow jacket

It has been said that many of us over-estimate what can be done in the short-term, but we under-estimate what can be done in the long-term.

Recently a friend expressed that he was discouraged because after a week of eating healthy and working out every day he had not lost any weight or seen any results. He was feeling discouraged.

Every near year people make ambitious resolutions, yet statistics show that most resolutions are not only abandoned, but that year after year, the same people tend to make the same resolutions, until many of them give up making resolutions completely.

I’m not against New Years resolutions; in fact I think that setting goals and making resolutions is a healthy part of Christian spirituality. See: Making Resolutions is Not a Lack of Faith, It Can Be an Act of Faith

Why do so many people abandon their resolutions?

One reason is because we often set goals which are too ambitious, or we set too many goals. As a result, we quickly burn out or become discouraged, or get behind and realize we’ll never be able to catch up.

Another reason is discouragement. Like my friend, when intense effort doesn’t produce foreseen results, we wonder whether our effort is pointless.

When I was 17 I tried to learn Spanish by listening to Spanish radio for hours every day. After a few weeks I gave up because all I got out of it was a headache.

We live in a society that expects quick-fixes and instant results. We want “just-add-water” and “microwave dinner” solutions. In other words: many of us are willing to give intense effort for a short amount of time, but if we don’t get the results we hoped for right away, we give up and move on: quitting diets/hobbies/jobs/relationships/churches – as soon as they are hard or not fun. As a result, we often don’t stick with things long enough to see significant impact.

Abide…and you will bear fruit

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Going Through the Motions Can Be Good

People tend to use the phrase “going through the motions” in a negative way, to refer to doing outward actions without heart or passion. However, “going through the motions” can be good if you’re going through the right motions! Getting set in your ways is only bad if your ways are bad! If your ways are good and helpful, then getting set in those ways can be the best thing you can possibly do!

Here’s why: because…

“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity every time.” – Bruce Lee

The Power of Walking

One of the metaphors the Bible uses to describe a relationship with God is “walking with God.”

  • Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5)
  • Noah walked with God (Genesis 6)
  • Abraham walked with God (Genesis 12)
  • Zechariah and Elizabeth walked with God (Luke 2)

Walking is used as a metaphor in the New Testament to describe a pattern of life, e.g. walking in darkness / walking in the light.

Walking is an interesting metaphor because it implies small steps, which on their own are not spectacular or glamorous or noteworthy, but over time the cumulative sum of those repeated actions can take you great distances, and to the highest peaks.

Walking doesn’t even elevate your heart rate – but perhaps that’s part of what makes it so powerful: it can be sustained for long periods of time.

Walking is essentially: small, continual actions, which lead somewhere.

For example: If you read just 2 chapters of the Bible per day, in 5 years you will have read through the entire Bible 3 times. Just imagine how well you would know God’s Word with that small effort, sustained over time.

If you read 10 pages in a book every day (about 15 minutes), in 5 years you will have read about 60 books.

What if you devoted the next 5 years to pursuing God?  What if you took small, but continual steps which, over time, would snowball into huge effects in your life?

C. S. Lewis put it this way:

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p.132)

For more on this topic, check out this message: A Vision for Your Future

Making Resolutions is Not a Lack of Faith, It Can Be an Act of Faith

Published on by nickcady3 Comments

You know the drill: the parking lot at the gym is full on New Year’s Day, but by March it’s empty again. “Why bother making New Year’s resolutions,” some ask, “if I’m just going to break them anyway?”

Others, I have noticed, state that they do not make New Year’s resolutions because they choose instead to “trust in God” rather than “rely on themselves,” assuming that to make plans and set goals is antithetical to faith, trust and reliance on God.

But is it?

I might argue that not setting goals and making plans is what reflects a lack of faith.

Real Faith Manifests Itself in Actions

The theme for our ministry year at White Fields for 2019 is: “Faith in Motion”, and during this year, we will be studying the Epistle of James, as well as looking at the lives of some of the Old Testament Prophets, because James tells us to “remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering.” (James 5:10)

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We will begin that series this Sunday by looking at Amos: a man who – in a time of “professional prophets” was a mere shepherd and fig-picker, but was given a calling and message from God, and he responded faithfully. In other words: his faith in God was reflected in his actions of obedience.

James famously tells us: “I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18). The point is clear: real faith manifests itself in actions. If you really believe something is true, you will live – and plan – accordingly.

However, James also warns us against presumption in this. He says: ‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”‘ (James 4:13-15)

The solution, James tells us, is NOT to not make any plans, but rather to still make plans, but submit those plans to God, and be flexible if God decides to take you in a different direction.

In other words: making resolutions (whether at the New Year or any other time of the year) can actually be an outworking of genuine faith. If you set goals which are in line with biblical and godly values, and make plans for how you are going to do those things, that is an act of stewardship.

A Matter of Stewardship

God has a LOT to say about stewardship in the Bible – starting with: Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2). The point of stewardship is that you have been entrusted with certain things, and given a responsibility to use them according to the master’s wishes and purposes.

Jesus told his disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) But to conclude that this means that we should then never attempt to do anything would be foolish and not at all what Jesus intended. It is not apart from Him that we attempt to accomplish anything, but with Him and by His power.

Paul the Apostle wrote this: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them (the other apostles), though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

It is wrong to think that planning, effort and thoughtfulness are somehow opposed to spirituality. Rather these are faith in motion: the outworking of values which come as a result of seeking God and seeking to follow God – similar to Daniel, who “resolved in his heart not do defile himself” while in Babylon. (Daniel 1:8) That was a resolution based on a conviction, and an act of faith, not of self-reliance.

Challenging Goals Actually Make You More Dependent on God

One of the greatest benefits of setting attainable, yet challenging goals is that it also fuels my prayer life. If I set goals that I cannot achieve on my own, apart from the work of God, then I am in a position of being even more dependent on Him.

My Resolutions Annual Goals

I don’t set “New Years resolutions” per se, but what I do every year is set attainable, yet challenging goals for the year which serve as guides for me later on, when I’m not feeling motivated or when I lose steam or need to be reminded of what I should be working on or towards.

I’ve found that having goals keeps me focused and motivated over longer periods of time. I can look back at them and be reminded of the things which I believed at one time were important guides to keep me on track.

Some of my goals are family-related. Some are related to my work as a pastor. Many others are personal. I set goals for how many books I will read, and in which languages. I set goals for how many kilometers or miles I will run, and I set goals to accomplish certain projects.

I have been doing this for the last several years, to good effect. I haven’t always met all of my goals, but at least having the goals kept me moving in the right direction on the days when I am tired or begin to miss the forest for the trees – and lose sight of the big picture.

My Advice on Setting Goals: Make them Specific and Measurable

I encourage you to consider setting some goals here at the outset of the year. If you are a Christian, let biblical and godly values drive your goal setting. But don’t only set goals, also map out plans for actually attaining them. If you plan to run 500 miles, calculate how many miles you will need to run each week. If you plan to read through the Bible this year from cover to cover, figure out how much you need to read each day in order to do that.

Don’t make goals that are not specific; rather than saying “I want to get in shape” or “I want to be kinder”, set concrete, specific and measurable goals, so that you will be able to measure whether you succeeded in reaching those goals or not.

I wish you all the best in this new year! May it be a year in which you walk with God like never before!

Thoughts at New Year

Published on by nickcadyLeave a comment

The new year is an interesting time – because it is somewhat of an arbitrary holiday; we are not celebrating a person or a great historical event. All we’re really celebrating, other than the fact that the Earth went all the way around the sun and now we have to go replace our calendars…

The value of the new year is that it gives us a gauge to measure by, it gives us perspective, and perspective helps us to see things more clearly.

The new year also comes with a sense of a new beginning – something which, as Christians, we can have a sense of each and every day because of God’s grace.

I’m not in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions, but there is one thing I do every year, which I find helpful: I sit down and write a list of things which I would like to see in one year from now. These are things which are not yet reality, but things which I would like to see become reality. Having written these things down, I keep that list on my desk, and pray and plan over these things until they become reality. Having this list helps direct my prayers and my focus, my time and my energy.

Zig Ziglar famously said: “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

We have a big God, with whom all things are possible (Mark 10:27) – a God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20). I encourage you to dream and pray in faith for those things which are yet unseen. Write them down, so that you won’t quickly forget them because of the tyranny of the urgent that creeps into our lives. At the end of the year, you will find yourself with a list of things which God has done.