Chasing the Wind!

The time is upon us.  You know the time!  You are thinking of the things you WOULD  do differently.  What you WILL do differently in '11!  The time of New Year RESOLUTIONS.  I know I am. I prefer to think of it though as the season of deep reflection.  A time of pure honesty before the Lord.  The season to look carefully at my actions throughout the year and how it speaks of my heart.  To give an account.  And to acknowledge before the Lord where my path has strayed.  Then to attempt to understand where He would like to see my walk with Him go forward in the year to come.   To listen to His still small voice speak His truth in my life. 

Psalm 119:26-28 

 ²⁶I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
 ²⁷Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
 ²⁸My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Yes! My soul grows heavy within me when I "declare my ways".   It often seems so much more than I can bear.  Vain effort is what the voice of Despair and Self Indulgence would tell me.  Chasing the wind that can never be caught.  I go round and round with the same sins, the same tendency, the same leanings.  

Ecc. 1:6
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north;
it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according
to his circuits.

Bu one can NEVER forget!  I am redeemed.  Free from all sin.  Bought from the gift of a Son.  A sacrifice given in love.   He is TRIUMPHET! He has given us the victory.

So why does each year my does my heart grow heavy as I reflect on the previous years mistakes and never reached goals. Why so many failures? . The answer is truly simple.  I am flesh on the road to sanctification. A hard road on which no victory is my own.   A progressive process- one step at a time. Slowly, painstakingly traveled over much longer than one year.  A road that will last my life long.  One with each victory made moment by moment, choice by choice. 

Hebrews 10:14
¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

We are BEING sanctified.  A work only our Savior can do in us.  But we are also commanded to work toward sanctification.  It is a process we are to willingly, obediently partake in.

2 Corinthians 7
 ¹Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So how do I receive comfort enough to continue each January a practice I know before starting is going to be so very painful.  Why do I pick up the pen?  Why do I make my little list of subjects then proceed to define my goals for those areas every year?  Seeing  that so many of them mimic almost exactly last years goals?

I Cor. 7:8-11
 ⁸For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
 ⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
 ¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
 ¹¹For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

What this beautiful epistle tells us- I am made sorry!  My own letter of fervent, prayerful introspection brings a vehement desire for repentance and change.  A fervent zeal to be what He would have me be.  And I draw strength from His Word.

Phil. 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:

So I pick up my pen. I draw a deep breath.   And I begin again to seek change.  And choose to obediently, willingly, actively participate.  "Change me, oh Lord.  Bring about change this year- slowly, excruciatingly, but progressively mold me into your image."  I am victorious even now through your Son! I take each slow step already in triumphant celebration.