New Year’s resolutions. We’re full of them, right? We have so many goals of how we intend to live one year better than we ended the prior year: I’m going to eat healthier, work out more often, spend less time on my phone, and so on. As a new year begins, I have my personal list of goals, and I’m sure that you do, too. However, in my life, I’ve found that when I consider something and think I might do it, I usually don’t. Or, when I consider something and say, well, I could do that, again, I usually don’t. When I give thought to how I ought to do something, very seldom have I found that that ought leads to accomplished.
I find that most of the time, the only time I actually do something challenging is when I determine I will and then live that decision moment by moment and day by day. Thing is, it’s not just about resolutions; it’s not just about goals. It’s about decisions – – – decisions that guide my day-to-day choices about how I will live.
This is exactly what we’re going to focus on with Family Disciple Me in this new collection of conversations we’re calling “I WILLS to Instill.” In the Bible, Isaiah chapter 12 is the perfect chapter from which to springboard into these “I WILL” decisions. It was funny how many times, once I started working on these conversations, that parents said to me, “I need to talk to my kid about this,” or “I need to talk to my kid about that.” I believe there are so many applicable conversations about these “I WILLS” with the next generation. However, to be clear, these “I WILLS” must start with us: you and me.
So right now, let’s you and I start with the first “I WILL” in this passage, which is, “I WILL Give Thanks.” (And, if you’d rather listen to this than read, check out this podcast HERE.)
“I WILL” Challenges from Isaiah 12
I’ve never forgotten a moment from years ago when I gathered together the women of Vanguard Church leadership for a New Year’s celebration. We enjoyed dinner together and then we sat in a giant circle talking about what God had done in our lives and our church the year before and what we were anticipating Him doing in the new year. The prior year, my husband, the pastor, had led us through a series called “The Gospel of Gratitude and Godliness.” Then, in the new year we were entering, he was starting another series called “Raw to Real.”
Well, as we reflected on what God had done and what He was about to do, one of our staff women said something that made us laugh out loud. She said “Well, I don’t know if I ended this past year any more grateful than I was, but I’m definitely raw, so I guess I’m starting out this year quite well.” We laughed at what she said, her summary of the year before and the new year. And now here we are, many years later, and her quip still echoes in my heart. I don’t know why, except that it resonated so deeply. Reality is, it’s way easier to be grouchy than grateful, and this raises the question: am I any more grateful now than I was last year? I may be more raw, I may be more real, but am I more thankful?
I WILL Give Thanks
Thing is, the truth of God’s word is that He wants us to give thanks, and not just during the traditional time to be thankful during Thanksgiving month. God wants His people to give thanks always. So this is where we begin, in Isaiah 12:1:
“On that day you will say: ‘I will give thanks to you, Lord, although you were angry with me. Your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.’” Isaiah 12:1 CSB
Now I can only imagine the way you might respond to that verse, because it’s the way I initially responded to it as well.
We skim right past the gratitude and we get to the part that God was angry with us. We wonder, why is He so angry? What’s He so angry about? Why is He such an angry God? And we go down a trail that leads us in the opposite direction of giving thanks. This sets our trajectory, not just for the moment or for the day, but for the year.
Here’s the thing, though. Personally, I think that Isaiah 12:1, is the perfect place to start because it doesn’t sugarcoat what’s at stake. It makes the wrestling really clear. It makes the decision really tangible.
You see, gratitude affects our perspective about everything, including how we see God. We can focus on what we don’t like or understand about Him, which actually is what most people do. Or we can focus on who He is and what He is doing, in and through us.
Yes, honestly, as this verse says, sometimes God does get angry, but the truth is He gets angry over things that should make us angry, too. He hates things that we should hate too, and Scripture tells us about what those things are (see Proverbs 6:16-19, Hosea 9:15, and Zechariah 8:17 for examples).
We can focus on what we don’t like about God, which leads us to ingratitude, away from thankful hearts. Or, we can seek to better understand Him and His ways.
When I do this, I find more and more reasons to give thanks.
Thing is, Scripture is full of admonitions for us to be thankful people. 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Are you willing to do God’s will for you as you enter this new year? What does it look like for you to give thanks? How are you giving thanks? How am I giving thanks? How are we beginning this year as grateful, thankful people?
The Choice to Be Thankful
I think that all of us have a choice in this. We get to choose whether we’re going to be grumpy or grateful. We get to decide whether or not we are going to focus on the blessings or the bothers, the miracles or the mess, the presence or the pain or the pain.
And thing is, what you and I “will to instill” in our own lives is what we’re then going to reflect, through our attitude and our actions, into the lives of those entrusted to us.
The reality is that I get to set the thermostat of gratitude in my surroundings and relationships, and so do you. You may have started this year in bliss, or you may have already been hit by the new year like a freight train. Either way, you get to choose whether you’re going to be angry, resentful and bitter at God, or you can choose to give thanks for what He has done and is yet to do.
As I look back on the highs and lows of last year, I will give thanks for what God did. As I start this new year, I’m going to give thanks for what He has already done this year. As I do this, as I live “I WILL Give Thanks,” this gratitude fills me with so much hope and anticipation about what He is going to do in and through and around me in the months to come.
I want that attitude to reflect into my marriage, into my family, into my friends, into my church, into my ministry. I want it to overflow and splash into their lives, flash into their lives gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation, hope and an anticipation of what is yet to come, when God is in control of our lives. I challenge you to join me in this.
I challenge you to start this year saying I will give thanks, whatever that looks like in your life. Maybe you start a gratitude journal. Maybe every morning when you wake up, the first thing you do before you check your phone is to say thank you to God for something that He has done. Maybe the way you give thanks this year is by making sure that every day in carpool, you say something that you’re grateful for and then you lead all the kids in your car to give thanks as well.
I don’t know what it is that God’s putting on your heart. I know what He is impressing on my heart. The key for all of us is to obey that we choose to focus our attention on who He is, what He has done, what He has promised, what He has fulfilled, and then give thanks.
In a world filled with we can’t, we could, we might, we ought, we should, I think that “we WILL” is an amazing approach to life. I am so thankful that we get to live this.
Be encouraged! ❤️
Tosha
