Are you resolved? To what? Resolutions can be perfunctory or powerful. At denominational conventions, I have served on resolutions committees in which we made resolutions to thank the host city and also resolutions on very important ethical issues. These different kinds of resolutions did not seem to be of equal importance or weight.
Paul made a resolution, perhaps on the journey from Athens to Corinth. Using quotes from culture and literature, Paul preached on Mars Hill to the intelligentsia of the city which produced Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Acts 17 tells us they listened to him until he pointed to Jesus’ resurrection. Then many of them made fun of Paul, but a few believed (Acts 17:32-34).
Paul resolved in Corinth not to appeal to eloquence or human wisdom but to preach Christ crucified. God used him to build a church there. This is still the way God builds churches: not through the charisma of the messenger but through the content of the message. The good news of Jesus is the way God transformed the lives of Paul and his listeners. The story of Jesus had changed me. It still works. Jesus is still enough.
Jonathan Edwards, the great American Christian preacher and thinker made resolutions as a young man. God blessed him and used him because of the commitments he made. In his 53rd resolution, he wrote, “Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him.” We don’t have to write personal resolutions, but we do need resolve if we are to live for Christ.
I remember singing a powerful song when I was a young person, “I am resolved no longer to linger charmed by the world’s delight. Things that are higher, things that are greater, these have allured by sight. I will hasten to him, hasten so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to thee.”
