Sunday, 31 December 2006

My three New Year's resolutions are to give more ruthlessly, love more intently, and fear less. It may seem that giving is the only resolution I have any control over, while love and fear are contingent on what God enables me to do. In fact, everything is contingent on soveriegn God's enabling, so an act of giving is no more in my ability than an act of loving or an act of not fearing. Conversely, decisions to love or to be more fearless are no less beyond my range of responsibility than is a choice to give. God is in control, and our greatest and most underesimated power is prayerfully seeking Him in worship, study and meditation, for without Him, as Augustine said, we cannot will to will. All of these-- giving, loving, and fearlessness-- are so closely related as to be intertwined. Ultimately, I want more than just what's right. Doing what's right is for religious people. I want to learn self-sacrifice from the King who endured a cross, and who calls to us, "Follow me."