By Garth Whewell 

It is that time again. It happens every year. We look back on our year and we resolve to do better. So let me make this resolution. I resolve to eat more beef jerky. After all, that is probably the only resolution I can honestly stick to. 

What’s yours? Study the Bible more? Pray more? Volunteer more? Exercise more? Lose weight? Whatever it is, I hope you can be resolute in your mission. However, if you are like me, about February 2^nd, your New Year’s resolution becomes your new month’s failure. 

I’m glad we serve a Savior who was committed to a resolution. Jesus Christ resolved to love the church no matter the cost. Paul writes in Philippians 2:8, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” 

Submit to One Another 

As a husband I am called to love my wife in the same manner that Christ loved the church. As a father I am called to be gentle with my children and to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” As a believer I am called to dedicate my life to following Christ’s commands, and submission is a command. Not only am I to submit to him, I am also to submit to others because I love and revere Christ. Husbands, wives, and children are called to submit to each other. 

Be Resolute

If we are going to have a healthy church, we have to have healthy families; and if we are going to have healthy families, we have to have a healthy church. We can no longer afford to sit idly by and wait for the next generation of Christians to strengthen both. The time is now. It is up to us. In a few days, when you sit down and make your New Year’s resolutions for 2013, be resolute in your submission to Christ and be resolute in your dedication to your family. Jesus Christ was resolute in his dedication to us. Now is the time for us to be dedicated to serving him.

Garth Whewell is a bi-vocational minister. He is the general manager for a landscaping company and currently ministers at Rising Sun Christian Church and Allison Prairie Church of the Brethren. He lives in Lawrence County Illinois with his wife, Christy, and their two children, Wyatt and Elsie.