Resolutions

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 humilate us. He does not critize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and ask 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 to Him. 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 belittle you. He will not humilate you. But He will ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" Remember, He did it three times, just as many times that Peter denied Him. 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, why do you think 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 the quality that He desires. As you go into 2009 together, let's ask that we love more, worry less and live together with our Lord. God is in control, will you let him lead you and let him use you in 2009 for His will?