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Happy New Year!

If you're anything like me, you've probably made resolutions before—only to see them broken before turning the calendar to February.

Sometimes we shoot too high when setting goals:

1. "I'm never going to argue with my sister again."
   
2. "I'll get all my homework done by 6 o'clock every night."
   
3. "I'm going to run 25 miles … every morning before school."
   

OK, I'm exaggerating. But you get the point. We often set our goals too high, and then we get frustrated and feel guilty when we fall short.

So, shoot a little lower with your resolutions this year. Then, when you meet your goals, you can raise them a little higher.

For instance, if you struggle with reading your Bible consistently, as I sometimes do, don't say, "I'm gonna spend an hour and a half in the Word every day." Start smaller: Go for five minutes a day. Maybe start with 3-4 times a week. Set reachable goals first. Experience success. Then you'll be motivated to set your goals a little higher next time.

We Christians sometimes get especially dizzy when making resolutions. Daily devotions and prayer, Bible club at school, youth group and choir at church, volunteer work on Saturday mornings, and so on. We may know we're not "saved by works," but sometimes we work our heads off anyway.

We look at our Bibles, a thousand pages thick, and we think, "Man, that's a lot of instructions. How can I ever follow them all?"

Here's how: Ignore all but one page, just for now. Turn to Micah 6:8. And read this:

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Twenty-one words. That's all God wants from us. Simple? Hardly. But it's the gospel simplified, broken down to three basic truths:

Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God.

There's no better way to ring in the new year.

Mark & your friends at Campus Life

1998 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mail clmag@CampusLife.net

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