Don't tell me you are looking for New Year's Resolution Tips from somewhere other than than the Bible.
Do you need a soothsayer as child of God to tell you that the best of the best tips concerning anything in life—even New Year Resolution Tips— are found in the Bible?
Once you agree with the me that the Bible is the first and last resort of man in any field of endeavor, then I can start this write-up with the definition of resolution according to the Bible.
Definition Of Resolution According To The Bible
About 600 years before Christ was born, God was angry with the children of Israel to the extent that he decided to use their enemies to punish them.
Of course, you should know that God would rather have his people living in shameful activity in a pagan land than living like pagans in the Holy Land and disgracing his name.
In respect to the statement made above, he inspired Nebuchadnezzar to move the children of Israel out of the promise land to the land of captivity, that was the land of Babylon.
As this land was known for great architectural designs, innovative products from great mathematicians and military warriors with the best of the bests war strategies of those days, the king requested for intelligent, healthy and talented Israelites to join his team of workers, after being trained in history and science.
Those qualities singled out Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who a lot of people know as Sharach, Meshach and Abednego, according to the names given to them in Babaylon.
After some time, this brilliant boys found themselves in a great dilemma because of the decision they made in the presence of the king.
The king, as you know, instructed everyone to bow to his golden image, but this 3 hebrew boys decided firmly that they would never bow to the gods of the great king.
Of course, they knew who Nebuchadnezzar was before they turned him down. Even when the king instructed his men to increase the intensity of the heat of the furnace times seven (×7), these boys still stood by their decision.
Their minds were so made up that they were ready to sacrifice the most precious things to them—their lives—rather than change their decision to serve an idol.
Of course, these 3 hebrew boys knew the kind of God they serve, the Almighty God who is able to deliver them from the terrible hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
At this point, one might be tempted to think that the firmness of their decision was based on the unwavering faith in the infallible act of God's deliverance for his people.
On the contrary, that wasn't the case. Their decision was based on doing the right thing, which is in accordance to the law of God as written by Moses...Exodus 20:3, you shall have no other gods before me.
Without mincing words, these boys would have remembered how God delivered their fathers from the hand of Pharaoh when he parted the red sea for them.
At the same time, they would have also remembered how great people like Isaiah, Jeremiah with several others were killed even when their faith in God remained unchanged in the face of death.
Who would have thought God wouldn't deliver people like Jeremiah & Isaiah considering their unwavering faith in him?
These mixed thoughts were enough to make these young boys to change their decision...
what if they refused to change their decision and end up being roasted in the fiery furnace.
As that thought popped up in their respective minds, the opposite one would have popped up, too, to braise them up for the challenge: what if they refused to change their decision, and God delivered them from the fiery furnace.
I'm taking my time to make you understand that the situation of things for the Hebrew boys when the fiery furnace was heated more, times seven, was not as easy as it appeared in written form, in the book of Daniel.
Undeniably, no one remained strong in the face of death, even our Lord and Savior kept repeating the same prayer to the Almighty God in sweats that was described as blood.
Luke 22:44
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His Sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Let me ask...
What do you think was making the savior of the world to repeat the same prayer that he knew quite right that his Father would not answer when he was close to being killed?
Just think about it.
Your answer would be as good as mine.
So, why would anyone think otherwise of those young boys in the face of death?
The moment I read that part of the Bible I reasoned within myself what would have transpired in the minds of these boys when those who were more matured than them feared death even with their unwavering faith in the Almighty God.
To make you understand what they had in mind as they refused to change their decision in the face of death was why this part of the Bible was penned down. See it below...
Daniel 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Can you see the phrase I underlined from the statement of the 3 hebrew boys above?
But if not...
That means... even if our God fails to deliver us, we will still not bow to your idol...hmmmn!!!
From that, I believe no one should based the firm decision of the boys on God's infallible ability of delivering them, no matter what.
All they did, as I stated earlier, was to make up their mind to do the right thing according to the law of God and be ready to stand by their decision even in the face of death when there's no one to deliver them.
That is not MERE DECISION but what we call RESOLUTION.
In other words, resolution is making up your mind to do the right thing according to the word of God and be ready to refuse to change the decision even if it will cost you the most dearest thing to you when God appears not care.
So, when people are coming up with lines and lines of resolution when they just enter the new year, it is always to satisfy the joy of seeing the new year, and nothing more.
But as for you, now you know the truth...
Now, you know what resolution truly means according to the Bible.
Onward...
Since we are now on the same page, let's forge ahead to the New Year's Resolution Tips from the Bible:
New Year's Resolution Tip 1:
DON'T MAKE BAD DECISIONS FOR GOOD REASONS IN THE NEW YEAR...
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 👉👉MESSAGE ME HERE NOW TO NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE NEXT INSIGHTFUL CHRISTIAN ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE
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Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Without mincing words, what is bad is bad. God had already informed the couple not to touch or eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Mind you, if God didn't reveal the negativity in that tree, Adam and Eve might not have figured out that such a BEAUTIFUL TREE is a dangerous one.
How did I even know this dangerous tree was beautiful?
Eve said it herself that the tree was a delight to the eyes in Genesis 3:6 above.
Do you think she was joking?
Of course, not.
We all know that dangerous things on earth don't seemingly appear as dangerous things to us, human. In fact, dangerous things are mostly masqueraded as nice things that can give us much pleasure.
According to her, the tree was good for food. In addition, based on the appearance of the fruit, she even concluded that such tree would do what it was not capable of doing.
Moving on...
If we had the opportunity to talk with Eve and ask her why she disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, you would be surprised that she would still come up with myriads of reasons, upon the reasons she stated earlier in that verse above.
This is applicable to human being generally. If we have the opportunity to visit a prison yard, as an instance, to ask inmates why they end up in that BAD PLACE, you will be surprised to hear that some of them have GOOD REASONS for doing the bad things they did that got them to the prison.
So, this year, don't make BAD DECISIONS, no matter how reasonably GOOD your reasons are.
New Year's Resolution Tip 2:
DON'T MAKE BAD DECISIONS TO AVOID WORSE SITUATIONS...
Genesis 12:10-13
Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
This seems to be similar to new year's resolution tip 1. It looks similar, but this number 2 is quite different from the first one.
The 1st tip deals with seemingly good reasons for doing something bad while this 2nd tip deals with doing something bad so as to avoid something worse.
Unexpectedly, it sounds somehow and unreasonable to do something bad to avoid a worse situation, but this actually happen to a lot of people, even to those who are righteous.
For that, you don't look further, just read the verse quoted above, Genesis 12:10-13.
Can you who this stuff happened to?
Father Abraham...
I mean Father Abraham of all people... He was in a situation (worse one as that) that made him abandon all he had to move in to a pagan land.
If you pay attention to the conversation between Father Abraham and Sarah, you will notice he knew going to Egypt was a bad decision, yet he made the move so as to avoid a worse situation of famine in his own abode.
So, for this new year, don't make bad decisions at all even if it is to avoid worse situations. Resolve to remain resolute on making good decision no matter how worse the situations of things are.
In other words, no excuse is tenable for doing something bad to avoid a worse situation.
New Year's Resolution Tip 3:
RESOLVE NOT TO MAKE ANY DECISION THIS NEW YEAR UNTIL YOU'VE MADE PROPER RESEARCH ON WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO
Genesis 13:10-11
Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 👉👉MESSAGE ME HERE NOW TO NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE NEXT INSIGHTFUL CHRISTIAN ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
When Lot was about to be separated from Abraham due to their large possessions that was causing so much strife between their herdsmen, he was left to decide where he wanted for himself.
Had it been Abraham made the first choice of where to stay before Lot made his, Lot might have thought that his uncle was privy to the information concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which encompassed the valley of Jordan he chose for himself.
At the initial stage, Lot thought he made the right decision when he chose the valley of Jordan. Actually, the presence of water in that environ prompted his choice of location.
He must have reasoned within himself that if there was enough water in the place of his choice, his farming business would have flourished more.
Unfortunately, he didn't look beyond the water: God had already made up his mind to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah before he chose the place for himself.
Eventually, he ended up regretting his choice of location for his farming business and residence, as he didn't make enough research before the crucial selection.
New Year's Resolution Tip 4:
BE READY TO WAIT LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THE MANIFESTATION OF EVERY GOOD DECISION YOU MAKE IN THE NEW YEAR
Exodus 32:1-4
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.
It was a long journey from the land Egypt to Mount Sinai where Moses went to the top of the mountain to get the stone tablets from the Almighty God.
The moment the children of Israel got to Mount Sinai, they made a good decision to wait for Moses after he went to be with the Lord on the mount, but, unfortunately, they couldn't wait long enough for him to come down.
Their impatience to wait long enough to see the manifestation of their good decision cut short their lives.
Intuitively, if you are waiting on God for your heart desires to be granted this New Year, ensure you wait long enough to see it granted.
Waiting long enough can NEVER be too long.
And notably, changing your decision of waiting to try something else can be disastrous.
Therefore, be resolute about not changing the decision of your waiting on God this year to grant your heart desires.
I PRAY THIS YEAR WILL FAVOR YOU MORE THAN EVERY OTHER YEAR YOU'VE EVER SEEN IN JESUS NAME.
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