The Only Resolution That Really Matters

World War II began in September of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.  Because of an alliance agreement with Poland, England was drawn in to the conflict immediately.  Would England be able to withstand the eventual onslaught of Nazis?  No one knew.  In his broadcast to the nation on Christmas, 1939, King George IV quoted Minnie Louise Haskin’s poem: 

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the new year,

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into  

     the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!”

Not a bad poem for a new year, huh?  While we make our plans and set our goals, not a one of us knows with certainty what the year will hold.  Like most years, it will likely be a mixed-bag of blessing and trouble. 

So how about this?  Instead of making a handful of resolutions most of us will abandon before January rolls into February, let’s make one resolution only: to walk with God in 2014.  Other than goals about weight loss and exercise programs, doesn’t this resolution cover most everything else?

• Walking with God will take us to places of forgiveness and restoration in our broken relationships.

• Walking with God will take us into places of service to those in need.

• Walking with God will carry us to church, to worship and fellowship with the people of God.

• Walking with God will help us join Jesus in His mission on this earth.

• Walking with God will take us deeper into His word.

• Walking with God will enable us to face our trials with the confidence that God is with us, God is for us, and nothing can separate us from His love.

• Walking with God means that even when I sin there is grace and forgiveness and the joy of another chance.

• Walking with God means my failures won't be final because God will continue the work He's begun in me until Jesus comes again.

• And walking with God will open us up to receive with wonder those serendipitous blessings God will drop in our laps along the way—blessings we never saw coming and might have missed if we were in too much of a hurry to accomplish our many goals.

 So I’m making one resolution this year: walk with God in 2014.  Minnie Haskins got it right.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the new year,

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into  

     the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!”

Yes it shall!