Strengthen Your Resolve

I used to be a quitter.

I don’t usually share that part of my life because it’s not something I am proud of, but it’s the truth.

Back in college, when I pledged to be in a sorority, I ended up quitting during pledge week. I thought protecting my trusted binder from frat boys who were trying to steal it to make me look foolish was the dumbest thing, and I didn’t have time for it. I quit. The guys who lived on my dorm floor sang, “Sorority Girl Dropout” (to the tune of “Beauty School Dropout” from Grease) to me. I thought it was hysterical and didn’t question my decision to drop out.

Years later, I quit the Police Academy. Unlike the apathetic attitude I had about being a sorority girl dropout, I regretted this decision for years. I made it lightly, based on how I was feeling at a particular moment, and it changed the trajectory of my career. I didn’t like running, the other two girls in my class had dropped out, and other, unrelated life circumstances made quitting the easy choice.

Since then, I’ve changed. Quitting has become something I despise. I want to be a grower, a cultivator, and a person who is known for her resolve.

When you look up the definition of “resolve” online, it can be a verb and a noun. As a noun, it means “strong determination to do something.”

When I think about a new year and what 2022 has to offer, I want to strengthen my resolve in a few areas:

Resolve to Read God’s Word

What if we strengthened our resolve to read God’s word on a regular, daily basis? Psalm 119 shares the importance of reading God’s Word:

• “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:11 NIV)
• “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Ps. 119:105 NIV)
• “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Ps. 119:130 NIV)

What would our lives look like if we had a strong determination to read God’s Word on a regular basis? God’s Word gives us light, direction, and understanding, and helps us to not sin. All wins in my book!

Resolve to Add to Our Faith

What does adding to our faith look like? Second Peter 1 tells us we are to make every effort (that sure sounds a lot like resolve to me!) to add to our faith. What exactly are we to add? Peter says we are to add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love (2 Pet. 1:5-7 NIV).

What really hits me, though, is the following verse:

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:8 NIV). I don’t think any one of us is striving to be ineffective or unproductive in our knowledge of Jesus.

We live in a post-Christian world. Growing in our faith is not commonly talked about outside the walls of the church. Yet that is exactly where we need to be. We need to make every effort to grow in goodness, godliness, and love so that we are effective and productive and won’t stumble.

Resolve to Live in Community

I get it. The last two years rocked our world. We were thrown into isolation, and living in community with others was reduced to playing Jackbox games on our computers. Even harder was the fact that most of us were no longer gathering for corporate worship on Sundays. Instead, we were sitting on our couches watching online church services. Unfortunately, some of us have yet to re-emerge into community life or return to in-person church services.

We need each other. We are called to live in community with each other. We are called to one body! “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Rom. 12:4-5 NIV). The global church of Christ needs us to be active in the church and use the gifts with which we have been gifted.

Throughout Colossians 3, we are instructed to bear with each other, forgive each other, teach each other, and admonish one another. We cannot do those things if we are sitting at home on our couches.

I know we live in different areas, with different guidelines and restrictions, but resolve to live in community to the best of your ability.

Heather Gerwing is living the full life with her husband, Jeff, four kids, and a dog in Metro Detroit. Heather enjoys reading, writing, coffee-ing, and serving in youth ministry. She was born a Jersey girl and feels most at home on a beach. She is the host of the monthly link-up, Share Four Somethings. You can join Heather on the journey to living the full life at www.heathergerwing.com.

Photograph © Diana Polekhina, used with permission