A WORD IN PASSING - January 2021

                                  "Sew a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment and it will pull away

                                                            from the garment making the tear worse."  Matthew 9:16

    

           Without God's help the sincerest of our resolutions will end up, in Jesus words, "like a patch of unshrunk 

     cloth on an old garment," sitting uneasily and creating tensions with other aspects of our character in need of 

     their own resolution. Indeed, we may well do more damage to ourself trying to impose a new resolution than

     if we'd never resolved anything in the first place! That's why Jesus goes much further. He knew better than

     anyone that individual resolutions - resolutions made in isolation, 'patchwork jobs', for any short-term benefit

     they may bring - will prove to be of no meaningful significance or lasting value unless they form part of a greater

     whole; unless they form part of the greater resolution that God will be at the very heart of my life.

     And that's where God wanyts to be. That's the place He can best assist and enable us. At the heart of my /

     your life. And when He comes He comes with the desire and power to change our disposition; to transform our

     old nature with a life-giving, life-changing new nature. He comes to transform the whole and not just a part. It's

     not an overnight transformation of character, but it is an immediate transformation of status as 'in Christ' - and

     solely because of Christ Jesus - I stand before God complete 'in Him.'     

      Why bother with other resolutions when the best resolution is to let God have His way in my life? When His

      will is the most gracious of wills, when His work will be most wonderously completed; when His promises to us

      will be most gloriously fulfilled.

      All we have to do is resolve to walk each day 'in step with His Spirit', dedicating and living each day in His service,

      doing for Him and for others the best that we can, in the knowledge that God never does less than His best for us.        Not only is it the best of resolutions, it's the resolution with the best and most assured of rewards.                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                 Graham Pulham                   

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