By: Maggie Morrison
I have never been one to set a new year’s resolution. In fact, I have always flat out refused them. My point of view has been, If you aren’t willing to change in June, or April, or October, what has changed in January? My attitude of self-motivation and earning my worth through works has certainly played into this prideful stance. However, this is changing. 2021 brought a year of busyness and self-preservation. Maybe it was the feeling of making up for lost time in 2020, or maybe it was burnout from pushing against God’s rest. I don’t fully know what brought on my spiritual apathy and insecurities in 2021, but I do know that the year was marked by much fighting over what God was calling me to. I felt God telling me ‘not yet’ and ‘just rest’ and ‘seriously, Maggie, you need to wait.’
Waiting.
Resting.
These things are difficult for me. I realized that over the last year much of my struggle has come from God asking me to wait and rest. These things made my flesh feel incredibly inadequate as if my lack of doing somehow made me less of a follower of Jesus.
2021 was marked by a desire for works.
2022 will be marked by a desire for Jesus.
How can any of us ever do FOR Jesus if we don’t first WANT Jesus?
So this is my invitation to join me on a journey of rest. Let 2022 prepare you for the good works God has set in front of you, because He has prepared them for you. These good works are not dependent on your ability to position yourself with the right people, they are not dependent on the strength of your flesh, and they certainly aren’t determined by the value others find in you.
One of the greatest lies the enemy loves to feed us is that our salvation is found in Jesus + (my strength, my works, etc.). There is no end to the list Satan loves to insert in these parentheses. He knows that as long as we hold tight to our parentheses, we will never find rest in Jesus alone. It’s not enough to simply recognize this lie though, we must combat against it with the truth of His Word, and we must continually remind ourselves over and over again.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Ephesians 2:8 ESV
IT IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING.
Thank you, God, for this truth because You know I’m so weak…and thank you, God, that You actually prefer me that way.
So here is my very first new year’s resolution:
May I find myself so rooted in Jesus that works flow out of me as a byproduct of my love for Christ.
I pray that you, too, through the goodness of God, find rest and peace through the work He has called you to. May we continue to lay down our parentheses and pick up our cross.
