resolutions

To help ring in the NEW YEAR, I wanted to share something from the Devotional I am reading. I hope it encourages you as you begin a new year. And remember, its all about love, and love is all you really need. Blessings to you in 2009!



So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?" John 21:15

Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He dose not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks 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. 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 berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your love for Him. he asked Peter, "Do you love me?" If you 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, it will not make your successful this year. Jesus asks for your LOVE. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.

Experiencing God
Day by Day
Devotional
January 1