New Year’s Resolutions

I can’t believe how much time flies. I can’t believe we are already in February. I go to the gym every morning and I have been noticing how many people have been in there lately. It has been jam packed with people. I work out in a small gym in downtown Hillsboro. It’s so small that you get to know all the regulars and you notice all the new faces. There have been so many new people rolling in the gym lately so I said to my workout partner, “it’s been so packed lately.” He replied back, “ yeah, they are the new resolution people.” I found that language so curious. He is referring to the new members of the gym because they only come to the gym for the first couple of months of the year. But then life happens and one missed week turns into another and then another and so on. In a 2020 survey, 55% of people kept their New Year's resolution for less than a year. 11% lasting six months, 14% lasting three months, 19% lasting one month and 11% lasting less than a month.

Those numbers are terrifying. We make resolutions and they become so hard to fulfill. Why? Why is it so hard for us to stick to our commitments and stick to what we know is the right way or inspired way of doing things. There are many reasons, but one of them is that we compromise. We create goals, the dopamine receptors come flooding in. You feel good in the moment. Then when reality strikes we try finding the easiest way to get the goal done. In some cases, if we are being honest we don’t look at getting it done right or even all the way. We look at getting it done in a way that feels “good”. And what feels good is compromise between the hard thing and the easy thing. It is getting things done in a way that feels good while still taking as little work as possible.

We do this not only with our New Years resolutions. We do this also with our spiritual lives. We see the hard route and the easy one and we land somewhere in the middle. We attempt to do the “right” thing. Then when that thing becomes too difficult or feels too extreme we slow down and give in. The world has told us that compromise is the way to get things done. While I agree that compromise works when in regards to our preferences. It does not work when it comes to principle. God tells us all throughout scripture how He feels about compromise. While speaking to the compromising church of Pergamum, Jesus said this, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them (you) with the sword of My mouth.” God is saying that if we continue compromising when it comes to sin in our lives that He will fight us. So then why is it so easy for us to compromise? Why do we insist on doing things half way when we know we should be doing them with all the way. That is what we will be unpacking this coming sabbath. We will be talking about the church of Pergamum and where they failed and why we are doing the same thing now. Join us this Sabbath to discover how to combat the areas in your life that you are compromising in! See you there!

Connected to the Vine,

Pastor Victor Reina