Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—always containing good news and encouragement for serious Christians everywhere.

 

It's that time of year again when Americans think about making their New Year's Resolutions. The end of the calendar year is not a watershed event, but it is an event. For many, it is a turning point—and not just turning the page to a new year. It suggests that the books are closed on one year and opened on another. Turning points are often hard to recognize, except after the fact. "9/11" was just another day in September, until 2001. "12/7" was just another day in December, until Pearl Harbor in 1941. A.D. 1455 was just another year in the fifteenth century until Gutenberg introduced his printing press. Normandy was just another shore line in France until D-Day in 1944. How big a day (or year) was it when the Internet was introduced to the world? You may forget the actual day or year, but you will never forget the event. And it is unlikely that you will forget the celebrity who claimed ownership of the invention. You remember him, don't you? He's the Global Warming guy—the Almost President of the United States. Unforgettable.

 

But here we are again—the completion of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. It is a time to make resolutions. The topic of this week's "Tuesday Morning" is "A Perfect Resolution." Catchy, don't you think? If it piques your interest, read on. Then be prepared to usher in a new year in a matter of hours. It may be a turning point for you. My prayer is that it will be.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

 

P.S. Have you obtained your personal copy of my new book, "E-Couragement: Meditations for Leaders" yet? Both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble list it in their data bank. Retail price is $14.99, plus shipping. If you would like a signed copy, send a check in support of this ministry, and I will send you a signed copy, postage-free. Make your check payable to Tom Barnard, 8404 NW 68 Terrace, Oklahoma City, OK 73132. It's a good way to begin a new year.

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A Perfect Resolution

Tom Barnard

 

ow should you approach the New Year in terms of making resolutions? Are you tired of making the same, old resolutions each year, only to fail…again? Is there an approach to resolution-making that makes sense? Pastor David Jeremiah believes there is. In his book, Turning Points, he offers a way to approach the annual tradition of making the Perfect Resolution:

 

“Instead of trying to start something brand-new this year, consider taking something

you’re already doing to the next level: living with passion for God.”

 

What a novel concept—“to go further on the road you’re already traveling with Christ.” Why didn’t I think of that? “I’m already a Christian,” you say. Good for you! “I attend church.” Awesome. “I tithe my income to God’s work.” Outstanding. You are part-way there. Consider going all the way.

 

The Apostle Paul offers a suggestion. Here it is, in his own words, in 1 Corinthians 15:58:

 

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”

 

Hymn writer Johnson Oatman, Jr., had the right idea when he penned these words in 1898:

 

I’m pressing on the upward way; New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day,

Still praying as I’m onward bound, “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay.

Tho’ some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world, Tho’ Satan’s darts at me are hurled;

For faith has caught the joyful sound, The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the upmost height, And catch a gleam of glory bright;

But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found, “Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”

 

Alfred Lord Tennyson was called the “poet laureate” of the Victorian Period in England. In his oft-quoted work, “In Memoriam,” he spoke of how to approach the end of one year and the start of another:

 

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

 

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Ring out the slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

 

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless, coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

 

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.