Resolutions and Revelation

If people can’t see what God is doing,they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals,they are most blessed.

(Proverbs 28:19, MSG)

C.S. Lewis observed in “The Weight of Glory”, “If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive...”

That is the difference between man’s resolutions and God’s revelation. Our resolutions usually focus on stopping something, but God’s revelation inspires us to something greater. Actually, God’s revelation empowers our resolutions by giving us a vision, and with it the passion to seek it, leaving lesser things behind.

C.S. Lewis goes on to challenge us, “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what it is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

May God continue to reveal to us His desires and consequently the resolution to make them our own! “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He will do it” (Psalm 37:4-5, NAS)

Keep on abiding,

Steve