Another year is coming to an end. People make resolutions this time of year. Last year I set up a “rule of life” for me to live by, instead of having New Year’s resolutions. I like the idea of creating a pattern of habits to live by, and I think it has worked out well for me this past year. I did fail this last month in the habit of “Limit the eating of sweets and fats”. I ate way too many cookies and now I have a couple pounds I need to lose. I was not intentional and disciplined in my eating this last month.
I think in today’s culture of comfort and convenience we need to be intentional and disciplined in how we live. The strong siren call of today’s culture is to live for oneself and to fulfill one’s desires. The goal of many people is to live a life of ease, one of comfort and convenience, where they can always be happy by having all their desires met. This last month I let my desire for sweet cookies rule my eating. It was not healthy. I was not intentional in my eating, and I was not at all disciplined. I gained a couple of pounds. Now I have to deal with the consequences of that lack of discipline.
God calls us to a life centered around him and not centered around us. That is very different from what today’s culture says. Culture today pulls us toward a self-centered life based on our desires. This is why we can not coast through life. If we do, we will not be living for God and we will have to deal with the consequences of the short term thinking of our desires. We need to be intentional and disciplined in life’s activities so that we can have that good and full life centered on God.
One good way of being intentional is to have a plan. We can not try to fit God into our lives. Instead we need to start with God and build our lives around him. That is why I created a “rule of life” document for myself, so that I would be consistent in how I live my life for God. I created the document by looking at what I was already doing and what I wanted to do. I did not get very specific (e.g. Every morning at 6:00am I will read the Bible), instead I kept my habits more general (e.g. Daily read Scripture). I am not that structured, but you may be. It does take some prayerful consideration to put together a plan or a “rule of life”. It is not something you should write up in a few hours. Spend some time praying about it while putting it together. Once it is done you will want to revisit it from time to time to see how well it still fits. For me this is the time of year when I think of such things. (I first started thinking about the idea of a “rule of life” around New Years 2022 and I put it into practice around New Years 2023 and now I am evaluating it around New Years 2024.)
Having a plan and wanting to be intentional is not enough. You need commitment and discipline to put your intentionality into action. This is the hard part but this is something we need to strive for. It is not easy and I have also many times failed to live up to the “habits” or “rules” that I have set (let alone God’s good standards), but fortunately, we have a God who is merciful and gracious. He desires that intimate relationship between us and him. I think my “rule of life” document helps me to pursue that relationship. Our focus should be centered on God, especially on Jesus. It is out of gratitude for God’s amazing love and for all Jesus has done for me that I want to live my life to his glory. He inspires and enables me to have the discipline to live life for him.
PS To find out some of what Gail and I did in 2022 and 2023, read our Christmas letter.
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