Broken Resolutions

Eight weeks into the New Year and

I want to ask “how are you doing on your resolutions?”

Most promises made involve “change” of one sort or another.

Whether you want to lose weight, work harder, or show down, to achieve your goal there will have to be changes.

We all know how difficult it is to make profound changes in our lives, though the need may be apparent. We recognize that there is a need for change, but we hesitate. The prospect of change in our lives makes us uneasy. We find it threatening when we realize that substantial change for the better means a repudiation of so much we have stood for all our lives. We find it intimidating to be called upon to renounce that which, like nothing else, is of our own creation -namely, our egos.

But if it is difficult to remake ourselves, it is just as difficult to accept change in others. This is painfully evident in the treatment of reformed criminals. It has been frequently noted by prison and rehabilitation authorities that the problem of repeated offenses is caused, to a great extent, by society's failure to accept these people as capable of change. Expert testimony in this regard is overwhelming: the most skillfully conceived rehabilitation program is likely to fail in the end if public acceptance of the reformed person is less than genuine. Without it, as studies show, the dream of a "fresh start" becomes an illusion. When a person gets the message, "Nobody cares," he or she is not likely to go on caring much themself.

Take for example the story of the "changed man" who was asked, "You stopped smoking because she asked you?" "Yes," he answered. "And you stopped drinking because she asked you?" "Yes." "And you stopped swearing because she asked you?" "Yes." "And you stopped gambling because she asked you?" "Yes" "And yet you never married her?" "Well, you see, after I reformed, I found I could do better."

The truth is, we all can do better! "This is the time of fulfillment. In Chapter One of Mark, Jesus says the reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel". These are the first words spoken in his ministry. This statement represents the spirit of his entire ministry: a series of demands for rebirth and renewal. In all his preaching and teaching, Jesus consistently calls us to a change of heart that reaches deep down, beneath the superficial changes of the day. Jesus calls us to change so radically and profoundly as to transform us into loving witnesses to the coming of the "Reign of God" which he proclaimed. To forgive those who hurt us, to pray for those who mistreat us, to bless those who hate us -- to do all these things consistently means for all of us an entire lifetime of dedication to change. Never are we fully equal to the task. Always there is the need to reorder our lives.

To rebuild our entire lives, Jesus calls upon us to free ourselves from all traces of pride and put aside our weighty preoccupations with achievement and success according to worldly standards. If this seems like a tall order, it is -- and Jesus fully understands the difficulties that lie before us. There must be change.