22 to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV)
There are so many ways to look at and to begin living a new life. This is so because we are each unique creatures with a different take on life. But God’s focus is upon one new way of living which is to put away our sinful ways and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, in true righteousness and holiness.
Today is a day of resolutions. However, how many of these fall away almost as soon as we make them? This is often because we are not nearly as resolved to make change as the change itself might dictate or require. Resolve is the true way to change.
When we resolve to do a thing, truly resolve to do it, it means that we must steel ourselves to the task. Half measures will always leave us falling back into our bad habits or wrong ways. It has to be a shift physically, mentally and spiritually. Otherwise, like a resolution we will fall away quickly.
Resolve, then, becomes both an act of doing a thing and a way of doing it. It is planning and execution. It is resolving to act and resolved to sustain that action. It is a setting of ourselves against the constant wind of contrary action, the enemies prompting in the opposite direction and the worlds temptations.
This is where true change begins, in resolve.
