With only a few days left in the year of 2023, I want to call your attention to something that perhaps all of us have been guilty of at one time or another. The practice of making New Year’s resolutions is a very common practice that is ingrained in our culture. Every New Year’s Eve, before the hour of 12:00 a.m. (that officially begins the new year), multiple millions of people around the world (especially in our culture) make resolutions about what they intend to do in the new year. Regrettably, only a fraction of those who make these resolutions and decisions ever follow through to see them come to fruition. There are so many unfulfilled resolutions that were made just in the last year that if you had a dollar for each one, you would perhaps be a billionaire. I want to help you to abandon the ineffective and failed practice of making New Year’s resolutions and replace it with something that I have learned by experience that will work for you if you apply it with consistency. I term it “From Resolution to Revolution Principle”. One of the meanings of the term revolution is a complete change. Revolutions take place when one is serious about the resolutions he has made in any area of his life. You can make all the resolutions that will come to your mind, but if you are not serious about putting forth a steadfast effort, your resolutions will never produce revolutions in any area of your life. They will remain empty and powerless thoughts, ideas, and words. Even as the Scripture affirms, “Faith without works (action and effort) is dead”. In the remaining space that I have in my final article of 2023, I want to list and comment on how to experience a revolution in some essential areas of your life where there is an urgency to change.
A Revolution in Your Mental and
Emotional Well-Being
I venture to say that (arguably) one of the most important areas where the average person needs to experience a revolution (complete change) is in their mental and emotional areas. Since these two parts of our makeup are interrelated in that our thoughts help to comprise and govern our emotions, if weas individuals, could discipline ourselves to overcome negative and toxic thoughts, this mental triumph would enable us to govern and bring our emotions and feelings under control as well. The Scripture confirms this to be the case that says, “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). If the saying that says,“It is not one’s aptitude that determines one’s attitude” is to be considered, it strengthens our point. I believe that striving to experience a revolution in the year of 2024, in our thoughts and emotions, is a far better goal than making resolutions that we most likely will not follow through to achieve.
A Revolution from Bad
Habits to Good Ones
Since we have already established that the kind of revolution we are considering here is a complete change, I believe that we can have a complete change or reversal from a bad and detrimental habit to a good and constructive one. For instance, I believe that if a person works hard enough and is serious about their health, they can experience a true revolution in the area of smoking, gluttony, and eating the wrong kind of foods that are detrimental to their health. I am in the number of the legions of people who are battling to win the battle of the bulge and obesity through curtailing my appetite. One of the most challenging things for we who are engaged in this fight for good health and longevity is to deny ourselves. The cravings of the pallet and taste buds are one of the strongest we have as human beings. Nevertheless, many have been able to tame and train these two innate members of their bodies and achieve great results and benefits toward a more wholesome and healthy life. With willpower and consistency, you can experience a revolution that will free you from the bondage of any bad habit, regardless of the nature of it.
A Revolution from Indebtedness and Financial Bondage
In this final section, I am going to consider one of the most problematic areas where most people are struggling to get the victory. Due to how important money is to our well-being and ability to experience owning our own home, sending our children to college, and all the other blessings that come with a fulfillment of the American dream, there is a great need in many, if not most, to experience a revolution that will free them from indebtedness and financial slavery. The following passage of Scripture is very relevant to the point I am making here. I hope it will help to enlighten you: “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant(slave) to the lender”. I could not have said it more explicitly than the previous passage. Whether you are willing to admit it or not, if you are shackled by indebtedness and chronic borrowing, you are a financial slave, as I once was. Let the year of 2024, be the year when you will make a declaration of independence and launch a revolution to overthrow the slavish and stifling reign of the rich over you. Making a resolution will not get the job done, nor free you from bondage. If you are going to truly be unshackled, you must initiate a revolution that will bring about financial freedom for you.
