It is the eve of the New Year and many of us have plans to celebrate. Some will spend time with family, maybe watching a movie over a bowl of popcorn. Others may celebrate with close friends as they throw a game of cards and some will dance in the New Year with all the bells, whistles and party hats. However we choose to celebrate most of us will usher in the New Year with a resolution. I propose this be the year you toast to a commitment rather than a resolution.

How many people do you know who have actually kept their New Year’s resolutions? There might be but a handful, if any. The problem with resolutions is they are temporary with nothing in place to help us attain the changes we aspire to make. Resolutions are lip-service; we mouth our plan of action but fail to have a strategy in place to motivate us to succeed.

Commitment, on the other hand, demands a course of action to reach a goal. It gives us the determination to maintain our resolve long after the resolution fizzled out. If you want to lose weight commit to a 10K race or participate in an event like the Warrior Dash. Commitment requires action not promises.

As a Christian the New Year causes me to reflect on things I need to change in my spiritual life. It is a time to turn my spiritual resolutions into spiritual commitments; to evaluate if my life gives creditability to my commitment of faith in Jesus, or is it just lip-service.

Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

I don’t want to ‘play’ church; I want to be an integral part of ‘THE’ church. It is in God “… that I live, breath and exist.” (Acts 17:28)

As this year comes to a close consider commitment over resolution. Whatever changes you want to make in this upcoming year do it with determination and a plan of action in place.

Happy New Year! May peace, blessings, and prosperity reign upon our nation; may 2014 be the year our nation returns to God.