The Glass Cutter

New Year Resolutions

Romans 8:28: King James Version (KJV)

” And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Teaching Aid an old can opener or an old tool of some kind.

Today the weight room at the Y was completely full. To workout you could not go in any prescribed order but had to use whatever piece of equipment was available. The time of year we see a lot of new faces in the exercise room as a result of New Year resolutions. In about a week one will be able to go back to their original routine because many of the new faces will be gone. Some will hang around and become regular but most will allow their resolution to drift off with other good intentions.

Has the pitch of some huckster impressed you to the point that you had to have the product they were selling only to find it was not what you expected?

Kind of like when people see the picture of a fit person and resolve to get in shape only to find there was a lot more involved that what they thought.

I remember sending for a knife sharpener combination - glasscutter that would sharpen any knife razor sharp and cut glass in all kind of fancy designs. When delivered it never quite lived up to my expectations. It became part of the supply of useless things we had lying abound the house. It kind of went the way of many of my resolutions.

Life is sometimes that way. We will get a big ego investment into an event, a friendship or a relationship and it does not seem to work as planned. As we began to mourn over our failure, we find we are right where God wanted us all the time. Always when we put our trust in him things work out the right way, his way. His way is not always our way but it is always the best way.

Turning things over to God evolves putting our trust in him not making up our own mind then asking him to sanction our decision. That is usually our first mistake. What we interpret as God’s will is at times just wishful thinking on our part.

Our second mistake we quit before God takes his turn at bat. If we really place our trust in God, just when our failure looks complete, God pulls something better from the ashes. I can truly say that God has done some of his greatest work in my life through some of my greatest mistakes and blunders. I needed to fail so that I could be where he really wanted me to be. Other times God had to wait patiently while I exhausted my resources so he could take over. It is in this way that we really get to know his presence in our lives.

Prayer: May we never be so foolish that we quit before you have your turn at bat. May we trust in the assurance that your way is always right? Amen