Resolutions

There is an old Jewish story about a rabbi named Zusia.

One day Zusia came to his disciples. His eyes were red and swollen from crying and his face was pale.

“Rabbi,” one of his disciples exclaimed. “What is the matter?”

“I was thinking about death,” said Zusia. “I was thinking about what it would be like to stand before Almighty God. I realized that if God asks me, ‘Zusia, why weren’t you a leader like Moses?’ I would say, ‘Lord, you did not give me the leadership of Moses.’ If God asks me, ‘Zusia, why weren’t you a poet like David?’ I would say, ‘Lord, you did not give me the eloquence of David.’ But, if God asks me, ‘Zusia, why weren’t you Zusia? Why weren’t you all that I created you to be?’ I will have no answer for Him.”

Resolutions are so often about creating ourselves. They're about creating a stronger body or a slimmer waist, a larger bank account or a smaller debt to pay off, to stop smoking or to start reading.

There's nothing wrong with those sort of resolutions.

But, what if, this year, instead of resolving to create ourselves we resolved to discover what God created us to be?

What if you took the first step towards Him and began considering what a relationship with Him could mean for your life?

What if you asked Him to show you where your character needs developing that you might better represent and reflect Him?

What if you began exploring how He could use your unique personality and gifts and passions to impact the world?

Let's resolve that a year from now we will be more of what God created us to be.

I can think of no better resolution.

The End of the Story

I reread the Chronicles of Narnia every single year.

Yes, I am an adult. Yes, they still capture my heart and mind with every single time.

I know how the series ends. I’ve read through it more than a dozen times.

But every time I get to the final book – The Last Battle – I flip to the last page.

“And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.

But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, p. 228)

I know how it ends – but I want to know again.

Have you ever flipped to the last page of a book because you simply couldn’t wait to see how it ended? Everything changes when you know the end of the story.

I wish I could flip forward. I wish I knew where I’d be in twenty years. I wish I knew what I’d be doing. I wish I knew if what I was doing now mattered.

I wish I knew the friends I’d still have. I wish I knew what my nieces and nephews would grow up to be.

There’s a lot I wish I knew – and a lot I don’t.

I do know the end of the story, though.

God has written the last page of history. We know how the story ends for those that follow Jesus. In the end, God wins. In the end, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more heartache. In the end, He will make all things new. 

How different would life be if only we remembered the end of the story? How would you think about your past? How would you trust in your present? How would you hope for the future?

Everything changes—or should change—when you know the end of the story.

Have you changed?