A  New Year’s Resolution.

It’s that time again when we make plans on how we want to improve our lives and those around us………it’s called Resolutions.  We have all tried them in the past and along about March we forgot what we had resolved to do!! 

Here is one to consider………discipleship.  First we need to work on ourselves.  It means a daily resolve to choose to follow Jesus though making wise decisions and representing him in our lives. 

Sometimes our decisions are easy!!………regular or decaf; a big Mac or a salad bowl; another helping of mashed potatoes or more green beans!

 However, discipleship is a weighty decision.  We have choices to make. There are truly defining moments of our lives that craft our character and shape the way people see us.  We are pulled toward wanting to be popular, and well known. Accepted by everyone.  But then there’s that spiritual pull which tells us that if we truly represent Jesus as a disciple then we must forgo what we think would make us happy.  Paul describes this in Romans 7:15…..”For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

When I was studying the scriptures for more help I clicked on a Jewish website that talked about a type of self discipline called Mussar.  It is practical tool that we might adapt to our lives also.  Mussar is the practice of bettering oneself by focusing on our own character traits and the battle that occurs within us between making right or wrong decisions. 

Essentially, Mussar is the idea that, although we fall far short of what we know to do, our mission is to overcome those faults and slowly improve ourselves by our daily devotion to God.
This is a type of battleground. We are like soldiers who either progress by overcoming the difficult choices or regress and retreat into a bad choice.  

Simply understanding life as a series of tests or battles means we can be more adamant about overcoming obstacles when we face them.  I am not saying that Mussar will turn us into perfect humans, but as believers we are called to the weighty yoke of discipleship. This philosophy can help us create patterns of discipline to help form us into more devoted disciples.  It’s a type of daily discipline for our self.

The key factor for every activity that you and I want to improve requires practice and discipline, whether it is playing an instrument or learning a new skill.  Why should we not treat discipleship in the same manner?  More than anything else in life our goal is to represent our Lord to others by living out His words as it says in 1^st John 2:6. ”whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”

Our Master understood the fallen nature of man and knew how difficult it was to make good choices.  He knows our weaknesses and was tempted just as we are and yet He himself was without sin.  We are promised that God’s grace will assist us in our own self discipline as well as our desire to disciple others.

Each new day creates a new opportunity.  An opportunity to choose good and  to sacrifice our own desires and focus on doing good for others………….a chance to live up to the calling of being disciples of our Master Jesus (Yeshua).  Let us take this mission of living like our Lord with renewed strength and view each day as an opportunity to improve. 

Our goal in life is to represent Jesus to others by living out His words.  You can do it!!