I don’t know about you, but I personally find it to be pretty fascinating, how much stock people put into making New Year’s Resolutions. It’s almost like they believe that at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, there is something magical that happens that will give them the power to leave all bad habits behind.
Personally, I liken it to the person who has strippers at their bachelor (or bachelorette) party the night before their wedding and all the while believing that walking down the aisle will transform them into being sexually responsible.
Not one day or event does a healthy person make.
It’s something that you have to practice…daily.
There is Scripture that supports this resolve: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34-NKJV) Christ said that. Oh, and let’s not forget what Paul said as well: “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (I Corinthians 15:31-NKJV)
What I like about both of those is that it reminds us that making choices that will prove to be good for us is a daily (sometimes hourly) process. We don’t need to worry so much about going a whole year or an entire month or even this upcoming week without succumbing to our personal strongholds. All we need to really concern ourselves with is today knowing that today, God will give us sufficient grace and mercy (Hebrews 4:16) and today, he will give us a way of escape for every temptation (I Corinthians 10:13).
Take it from someone who will be seven years without sex on January 9, had I known back in 2007 that I’d be going this long (THIS LONG) without sex, I wouldn’t have made it. Just the self-imposed anxiety of being abstinent for several years would’ve caused me to crack under the (again self-imposed) pressure shoot…six years and 364 days ago (LOL). But taking this thing day-by-day and sometimes moment-by-moment has resulted in me reaching a goal that I personally thought was unattainable.
Daily resolutions are a lot easier than yearly ones. They’re a lot more realistic too.
So am I trying to talk you out of the New Year’s Resolutions that you’ve probably already made? I’m definitely not doing that. But I do want to encourage you to be a bit more realistic and turn them into daily ones instead.
Go today without watching porn.
Go today without masturbating.
Go today without having sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Just focus on…today.
Then watch how far that kind of mindset will take you.
It might just blow your mind.