“I Am Resolved…” (January 2024 Update)
At the start of every New Year, people make all kinds of resolutions. They resolve to start dieting and stop smoking. Others resolve to start new habits or change bad behaviors. This can be a good thing as every one of us has habits that need to be changed for the better. The problem is that most resolutions start with good intentions but still fail. In fact, research reveals that only 9% of Americans that make resolutions complete them. In fact, research goes on to show that 23% of people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January. Those are not good results!
Every year people ask me what my New Year’s resolutions are, and I always reply that I never make any New Year’s resolutions. Now there is nothing wrong with making resolutions. In fact, many great believers made lists of resolutions that guided their lives. Jonathan Edwards is one just example of a believer who lived by his list of resolutions. His list of resolutions is one of the more popular lists and it provides a good example (or even a checklist to use for yourself) as to how to resolve to live a life that pleases God.
But first, we must ask the question, what about making New Year’s Resolutions? Edwards’ resolutions were not New Year’s resolutions. He simply added resolutions to guide his life as he found them in scripture, in reading, or in practice. (For a good explanation of Edwards’ resolutions, here is an article by Stephen Nichols.) There is nothing in Scripture about making New Year’s resolutions. In fact, early Christians would not have even thought in such categories. They would have simply resolved to follow and obey the Lord in every situation in their lives.
So, should Christians have resolutions? Yes, but our resolutions should not be guided by the calendar but by the Scriptures and by the Holy Spirit. (Here is an excellent article by Daryl Wingerd from CCW).
Here are a few thoughts to guide us about resolutions:
First, and most important, we should resolve to do everything to honor the Lord. 1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:9 is similar: “Therefore, we make it our aim, whether absent or present, to be found pleasing to Him.” This is a foundational resolution that we should make that can guide everything else in our lives. In fact, Jonathan Edwards made this his first resolution:
Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.
Second, whenever the Spirit or Scripture shows us something in our lives, we should resolve to act immediately and not wait to repent or reform. We should react like the old gospel song, “I am resolved no longer to linger ….” Perhaps the biggest difficulty I have with New Year’s resolutions is the idea that we can wait until the new year to change something that we know needs to be changed. Psalm 119:60 says, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” It is a bad habit to delay making changes that we know need to be made. Don’t wait until the New Year to resolve. If it needs changing, do it now. “I will resolve no longer to linger.”
Third, we should resolve to try to help others to walk in the way of the Lord. This resolution should be both positive and negative. Positively, we should resolve ourselves to be active in seeking to help others to grow in Christ. This might involve one-on-one discipleship or serving in some ministry that will minister to others. Galatians 6:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Negatively, we should resolve to not do anything that might cause another to sin or weaken another’s faith. Romans 14:13 tells us, “Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”
Fourth, we should resolve to make the Scriptures the center of our lives. Nothing is more important when it comes to making resolutions than letting the Scriptures be our guide in everything. The Psalmist understood the importance of allowing Scripture to be his guide: “Establish my footsteps in Your word…” (Psalm 119:133). God’s Word should be the basis of our resolutions. Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” The best resolutions are bible-based resolutions!
Finally, we should resolve to depend more fully on the Lord. Perhaps the biggest reason that New Year’s resolutions fail (remember – only 9% are successful) is that they depend entirely on our own strength instead of on the Lord. Any resolutions we make should depend, not only on ourselves, but on the Lord. In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul reminds us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” For any resolution to be successful, we must work on it, but we must also call continually upon the Lord for the strength to carry out our intentions. In John 15:5, Jesus reminds us: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” If we make any resolution, we should remember that we need the power of the Lord to be able to complete it.
In his article, Daryl Wingerd gives some important reminders to consider when making any resolutions. Here are a few to consider:
First, before you make any resolution, don’t neglect your “necessary duties.” Don’t resolve to do anything that would hinder you from doing the normal things that God expects you to do. For example, making a resolution to spend more time at the gym might be a good resolution, but if it causes you to neglect your family or to skip time with the Lord, then that resolution needs to be changed.
Second, before you make any resolution, know you are being watched. Usually, when we make a resolution, we announce it to everyone. The positive benefit can be that others will help to hold you accountable. Negatively, a failure to keep the resolution (remember, on average, only 9% of resolutions are kept!), might negatively impact your testimony before others. Remember that, as a believer, the world is watching you! One additional reminder that Daryl does not mention is that we need to remember that the Lord is watching us too. We often make resolutions and “cheat” when no one is looking. But Proverbs 15:3 reminds us that “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Hebrews 4;13 tells us “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Job 34:21 says, “For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.” When you make a resolution, remember that you are being watched. Maybe that’s why Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”
Third, before you make any resolution, examine your motives. Are you resolving to impress others or to please God? We often make resolutions so that others will be impressed with us. But our one goal should be to give glory and honor to the Lord in all we do.
Most of all, if there is any sin that you hold on to, repent now – don’t wait until the New Year! If there is a godly habit that you need to develop, reform now – don’t wait until the New Year! Make it your resolution to be like the writer of the old gospel song: “I am resolved no longer to linger….”
Teaching Ministry …
Much of December was spent finishing up grades from my fall classes. In fact, I just finished grading papers from my Church History class this week. I am also putting together my lectures and materials for my February class, Theology 1. This Spring, I will be teaching 3 classes like I do every year. For two of these classes, I have a Ukrainian mentor who will be teaching with me. In both of these classes, I have been working with these teachers for a few years now and they are almost ready to teach the classes on their own. I am still praying for someone that I can train to lead the other class.
We really did not expect that I would still be teaching at the Kyiv and Lviv seminaries this long after we evacuated from Ukraine. But, so far, I have been teaching all of the same classes that I was teaching in Ukraine when we were living there. And, right now, I have classes through November of 2024. All of my teaching now is online because of the war situation. It is not my favorite way to teach but it works, and it is a help for the students. Also, it has been a joy to be able to continue serving and teaching in spite of the war. Please pray for me as I teach these classes and train others to take over the classes in the next year or so.
Additionally this month, I will be preaching a couple of times and also continuing to help with the nursing home ministry. At the beginning of February, we will travel to Venice, Florida to help with a GSI (GlobalServe International) conference for pastors. GSI is one of the ministries that we are considering helping with in the future. We are still in the process of considering where the Lord would have us serve in the coming years.
Ministry Future Plans …
We are in the process of seeking God’s leadership in ministry for the coming years. Most promising right now is to help with a ministry called GlobalServe International. This is a missionary organization that was founded by New Tribes leaders to serve an area that New Tribes does not – but using the same principles as New Tribes. New Tribes (Ethnos 360) does only tribal work. GlobalServe was founded to send missionaries to unreached people groups that are not in tribal settings. They work only in restricted access countries (countries closed to missionaries). And they work with translating Scripture and establishing churches among unreached language groups. They also have missionaries in a few former Soviet republics so our language skills and experience in Ukraine would be helpful with those missionaries too. This organization has grown rapidly, and they need a lot of help with providing training, support and pastoral care for their missionaries. The founders have asked Katya and I to come on their missionary care team to work with missionaries and also to work with church relations. Pray for us as we explore this possibility.
I met with the founders in October, and I was impressed with their heart and their work. We will be going to their pastor’s training conference in in Venice, Florida in this February to see how we can best help them. This looks like a place where we could both use the experience and training that we have as missionaries. We will need to continue to raise our support since all their staff and missionaries raise their own support. GSI has said that I can continue teaching in Ukraine and continue to receive support through TRI so we would not need to make any changes in terms of donations. We will know more about this possibility after the February conference.
Finally, it looks like I will be teaching online at Kyiv Theological Seminary and at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary (Lviv) for at least another year since I am already on schedule for classes there. If possible, I might even go to teach a class or two in person if the war situation and my time here allows. I will probably continue to teach a couple of classes there each year if the Lord allows.
Financial Needs …
A number of you have asked about our current financial needs. Let me begin by saying that God has graciously supplied all our needs and more in the past year. While our regular monthly support has declined some, we received a number of large gifts last year that have more than made up the short fall.
But we know that we will need additional support in the coming year. This is for a number of reasons. First, we have a couple of donors who have let us know that they will be shifting their support to other needs in the coming year. We will be losing about $800/month from these faithful supporters. This is not uncommon as many prefer to support those living on the field as missionaries rather than those serving in the states. Second, one blessing for us in Ukraine was the exchange rate. When I moved to Ukraine, the exchange rate was about 8:1. That meant that we needed much less to live in Ukraine than in the states. With the war in Ukraine, that rate became about 26:1 which really helped us financially. But now that we have moved back to the states, we are learning that everything here costs 2-10 times as much as in Ukraine. So, we will need additional support to manage while serving here in the states. If you are interested in being part of our support team, information about making donations can be found at the end of this update.
Two other things helped us to live on a small salary in Ukraine. First, we learned to live debt-free. While we are still basically debt-free, we do have some bills from the house that we will need to pay off. Second, in Ukraine, we depended on our garden (canning and dehydrating) for most of our food needs. That is our plan here too, but it will be a year or so before we can get back to producing most of our vegetables and fruit. So, we realize that 2024 will still be a difficult year for us financially as we make the financial adjustment to living in the states.
But, as we look back on the last two years, we are amazed at how God has provided for us!!! When we left Ukraine, we left with just what we could fit into 4 suitcases. We spent most of 2023 living out of those suitcases while accumulating necessary items little by little. When we moved into our house this past December, we were amazed at how God had provided almost everything we needed. Some came from gifts, some from garage sales, some from moving sales. But we now have almost everything that we had to leave behind in Ukraine! In fact, because we bought flatware almost every time we moved in the last 2 years (rather than dig it out of storage), we now have an overabundance of dinnerware! In short, we have seen both the abundant provisions of God and the amazing love of His people in all of the items we have in our house! We have been blessed abundantly with God’s provisions!
Family …
We had a wonderful Christmas together in our new home. We have been able to host a number of families and friends in December and we loved being able to celebrate Christmas together. We even hosted a cookie decorating time with some of Kristina and Nadia’s friends. We attended two different candlelight services and had an early Christmas meal and celebration with Sean and Meredith and their family.
We spent Christmas at home relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. We were also blessed because Katya’s mom was able to visit with us over Christmas and New Years.
A few days after Christmas, we were excited to have about 3 inches of snow (which melted the next day). Even though it was short-lived, it was a lot of fun! And nothing beats sitting by the woodstove and looking out on freshly fallen snow!
Of course, it has not been all fun and games and celebrations. There is still lots of work to be done on the house. It will be many months before I can get all the trim work and other details done. In fact, the most pressing need for us was getting the wood cut and split and stacked for the winter. It was a lot of work, but it was great that everyone pitched in, and we were able to get most of it done before the rain and snow and freezing temps came in. Now we should have enough wood to keep us warm for the remainder of the winter.
Pray for Ukraine …
Please don’t forget to pray for Ukraine. While Ukraine is holding against Russian attacks for the most part, they continue to need western help to have enough weapons to defend Ukraine. Also, during the winter, Russia has again begun to fire missles targeteing the heating infrastructure. Please pray for protection from this Russian onslot.
Most of all, pray for the gospel to go forth in such difficult times. Many more are open to the gospel because of the difficult times and also because Christian ministries provide the majority of the humanitarian aid. We also have many friends, collegues and students who are involved in the defense of Ukraine – either by serving in the military or by aiding refugees displaced by the war.
We still miss Ukraine greatly and will always treasure the time we had to minister there. We are grateful for you and your prayers and your support for us. We could not do this ministry without you! Our time in Ukraine has not only given us a heart for Ukraine; it has increased our love for missions and for missionaries. We pray that we can continue to be used by the Lord in training and caring for missionaries. And we greatly need your prayers as we seek where the Lord would have us serve in the coming years!
If you make any resolutions for this year, most of all resolve to serve the Lord with all your heart that He might be glorified in all you do! And, if you need to make any changes, don’t wait for the New Year or any other calendar date. Be resolved – no longer to linger – in obeying and serving the Lord!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 1025, Cabot, AR 72023 or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds. If you want to help with our relocation fund or building efforts, put Relocation in the memo.
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