Monday, January 8, 2018

Resolving To Become More Stubborn, Close-Minded, And Obsessive!


After years of making New Years resolutions that always seem to melt away with the snow of winter, maybe I’ll try something different this year.  How about this:  For 2018 I resolve to become more stubborn, close-minded, and obsessive!  After all, I already have some talent in these areas, plenty of experience, and I might as well build on my strengths.  Besides, these aren’t necessarily bad qualities; it’s just that we typically practice them in bad ways.  In fact, I invite you to join me in these resolutions.  Together we can make 2018 a year of stubbornly close-minded obsessiveness.  Here’s what I mean.

Let’s be stubborn, but in the right way.  When we have a conflict with another person, let’s stubbornly forgive and refuse to hold a grudge.  Let’s be stubborn about resolving the conflict in healthy ways.  When we have an illness, or find ourselves facing a stressful ordeal, let’s be stubborn about fighting the illness and working through the ordeal with courage, compassion, and determination.

Let’s be close-minded, but in the right way.  When life refuses to live up to our expectations, let’s not be close-minded about the evidence.  Instead, let’s be close-minded in our refusal to become unloving, or disrespectfully.  Let’s be close-minded about listening to thee evidence and not our desires.  Instead of being close-mindedly inflexible, let’s be close-minded about learning and growing. 

Let’s be obsessive, but in the right way. How easy it is to be obsessed with unimportant things, like the dust in our house, while completely ignoring larger issues like the dust gathering in our important relationships.  So let’s be obsessed with maintaining healthy relationships!  And instead of obsessing over buying that new TV, car, or house, let’s obsess over spending our resources on things that would make our world a better place. 

Jesus invites us to “…strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33a NRSV).  With the arrival of 2018, we have an entire year ahead of us to do this very thing, while at the same time perfecting those qualities in which we already excel.  Let’s make a New Years Resolution to work together in stubbornly, close-mindedly, and obsessively striving first for God’s Kingdom!

Yours in Christ;
David Rockhill