Resolved to Have God in Control
New Year’s Resolutions are good and well intentioned. Eat better, go to the gym, reach out to family and friends we’ve lost touch with, spend more time with the kids, watch less TV, spend less time on the smartphone. We all have ideas of how to improve our lives from where they ended the year before.
But what if, as we start this year, we resolve to offer ourselves up to God to be molded and shaped by Him? Yes, we may have already identified the problems in our lives and prescribed the solutions, but this is different. This is us lifting up our hands in surrender to God and saying, “Show me the way.” This is us saying, “Mold me and make me, God, for thou art the potter and I am the clay.” This is us saying to God. “Wherever you tell me to go, I’ll go; whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do.” This is us declaring that we no longer belong to ourselves; we belong to God (Ephesians 4:22-23). Again, we are not the ones in control anymore; God is: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Jesus becomes the one directing our ship, as we say to Him, just as He said to God, “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).
We say with a deep breath, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
We wake up each day and say, “Jesus, take control of my life today.”
Jesus promises that when we open our will to His, the Holy Spirit “will guide us into all the truth” (John 16:13). He will show us the way. Jesus will “guide us into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79). But we need to make sure Jesus remains in control. The flesh may strike. Anger may come; jealousy or envy may rise. But we need to resolve to keep listening to God, to keep in step with His Spirit (Galatians 6:25). We have to keep on giving ourselves up to God again and again.
In anger and frustration, we resolve to pray, “Show me thy way.”
In fear and worry, “Show me thy way.”
In moments of stress and busyness, “Show me thy way.”
When we want to strike back, “Show me thy way.”
When we realize that we haven’t given back out of all that God’s given us, “Show me thy way.”
When we hear Jesus say, “Feed my sheep,” and we realize that we haven’t really been serving Him, “Show me thy way.”
We can be sure that as we find Christ, we will find our lives: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25). Our New Year’s resolutions may have the intent of improving our lives, but only through Jesus can we truly find life.
This new year, resolve to give Jesus control. Surrender to Him, truly lay your life into His hands and allow Him to direct your path. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
Love and Blessings,
Pastors Garritt and Sanette
Schoeneck Moravian Church 