This Week
This is the week most people give up on their New Year’s resolutions. Winter feels long. The dreary sky, wet salty roads, and short days get to us. We lose motivation. It’s not that we just quit. We peter out. And for most, this is the week those goals come to the end of their slow stay in hospice. It’s easier to give up hope and just quit than to muster up any more energy to try again and keep going.Is that you?We see it at church. This is also the week we see the largest drop-off in classes that people were so eager to join the first week they were offered. If our averages hold true, this week we’ll have 60% in class of what we had the first week. Not because the class hasn’t been valuable. On the contrary. The material has stretched us and has been a huge blessing. But while we had good intentions, Jesus’ statement to his disciples rings true, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”But giving up on goals and letting our flesh overcome our good intentions is a big mistake. On average, it takes 66 days for a habit to become ingrained. We are just 41 days into the New Year. So it makes sense that this is the time we tend to give up. It’s when the energy of newness dwindles that our character shows itself. It’s just when we are about to get there that we have to work the hardest to push through. In terms of establishing the habits to fulfill those New Year’s resolutions, we are 2/3 of the way through our workout. We might be tired, and we might just want to go home, but now is the time to make ourselves go after it.Some of you resolved to become an “every Sunday” church-goer. But you’ve missed a few. Ok…get back at it for the rest of the month. Some of you resolved to establish a quiet time. But you’ve been sleeping in, and now you’re discouraged and ready to throw in the towel. Whether or not you get back to it tomorrow morning will speak volumes of your inner character.
You are not a failure for failing. You become a failure when you quit.
So stop quitting. Get back at it. Do that workout. Show up for class this week. Get your Bible back out and return to the church reading program today. Show up for church this weekend and the next. Stop making excuses and follow through on what you said you were going to do.After all, “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin” (Proverbs 24:16 HCSB).