ven though I often reread last year’s article I wrote for the month, I am writing for this year just to see what I was thinking about a year ago, reading last year’s January Voice article before writing this one was a bad idea!  I discovered how much I have not kept one of my New Year’s resolutions that I was so determined to keep when I wrote that article last December.  I had been working on budgeting my time, trying to use my time more effectively, and to give myself specific times that I could work on sermons and Bible Studies without being distracted.  I told you I was going to have specific office times when I was available and other times when I would be studying or preparing sermons.   As I reread that article, I had to ask myself two questions:

• What happened to that schedule? 
• What happened to my resolution? 

Here is the problem.  I am a human being.  Sometimes I don’t want to admit that, but it is the hard truth.  I fail to be the perfect person that I think I should be.  As Paul says in Romans 7, I know what I ought to do, and what I ought not to do, but I do what I shouldn’t and I don’t do what I should.  That’s my paraphrase of Paul’s writing.   

So, how do I approach a new year and making resolutions?  Should I just give up and not even try to do what I know is right and good and healthy and what would please the Lord?   

Do I go ahead and do things that are harmful and sinful and just not good for me?  Of course not! 

Just because we are sinful human beings does not mean we are hopelessly sinful.  We can be forgiven for our sin – that’s what we preach and teach here, isn’t it? We can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, be the kind of people God made us to be.  We can keep the resolutions we make that are pleasing to the Lord. 

Hopefully, when I reread this article next December, I will see growth and I will see that I have been helped by the Holy Spirit to keep more of my resolutions and that I have become more like my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you make your resolutions and to help you become more Christ-like in 2012. 

                                          Pastor Dave

Church of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Covenant
Vision Statement

To be an open community and caring family that moves outside the church building and actively ministers to all people,
bringing the good news of God’s grace and love.

This is what is stirring among us, as the Holy Spirit helps us move outside of ourselves, seeing the people outside of our building as God sees them, people in need of His grace and love, and in need of the resources and abilities and love in action with which God has blessed us.