Resolutions

This isn’t exactly a good Wisdom Wednesday, but it will have to suffice. This week I’ve been reading passages on anger, anxiety, self discipline, and just last night, contentment. All the Scripture has been good for me to think about. One statement that was particularly thought-provoking was this one:

If I become content by having my desire satisfied, that is only _____lust______. James 4:1-6

How often do we think we’re content because we got what we wanted and are now happy? It’s a good thought, and a helpful one as I work on disciplining my thoughts toward righteousness.

Before I forget, I want to mention my goals…

I have also two goals I’m working on. I could call them New Year’s Resolutions.

First, when I was evaluating the goals I made last year, I noticed that I struggled most on the chronological Bible reading plan when I was reading something unfamiliar or hard to understand. In some ways, my lack of discipline was revealed, because I didn’t have any “fun” reading to make me feel like I had actually done my devotions or read something useful.

So I’d like to do better at this by actually working on understanding some of those passages. I decided that for each book of the Bible that I’m struggling with, I’d take the time to actually try to understand it, instead of skimming it, calling it a day, and feeling dreadful. I’m planning on using the many commentaries and study tools I inherited when my Dad and brother merged libraries earlier this year. I’ve already done this with Job, a little bit, mostly to see if I was on the right track, or if I was way off in my understanding of that book.

My second goal is to work on memorization more. The way I’m going to do that is to memorize the book of Philippians this year. That’s a good goal because our church is doing it, so there’s some accountability. It’s also a good goal because it’s doable: just two verses each week. I’m going to have to be deliberate about it, though, because I don’t memorize automatically like I did when I was a kid. It’s going to take work.

That’s all for now.  Now I need to go be diligent. Is God’s Word changing you at all this week?