The Ultimate Resolution

In early December I received an intriguing little book in the mail titled "The 10 Second Rule." The tag line of this book by Clare De Graaf is "Just do the next thing you're reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do." While I was intrigued, I was in over my head with Etsy orders, jewelry parties, orphan care ministry and a long list of other commitments. I didn't have time to read about the next thing Jesus wanted me to do because I had to take care of my own to do list first. Sound familiar?

I finally got around to reading it this past week and I've decided that the 10-Second Rule is the ultimate resolution. The book itself is a quick (under 200 pages) fairly light read. What stood out to me most is that the rule sounds so simple. Just do the next thing you're reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do. That doesn't sound like a huge commitment.

But the simplicity of the rule stood out because it's where I oftentimes fail. With the simple. The small. The seemingly unnoticed tasks that add up to an entire day or week or month of following my own agenda. As De Graaf explains "The purpose of obeying the 10-Second Rule is to help us develop these habits of obedience, beginning with the small things."

For some reason, I have a hard (maybe even harder?) time with the small things. Maybe it's because being obedient with the "little" isn't as fun or flashy as being obedient with the "much."

The words of De Graaf in Chapter 8 felt like a dagger impaling me in the chest: "However, followers of Jesus ought to be wary of showing measured mercy - mercy that's portioned out only as time or convenience allows. We call that volunteering - a very good thing. But it's not the same as spontaneous obedience."

Volunteering. Spontaneous obedience. Not the same.

I do a lot of volunteering for Jesus. Which doesn't sound so bad until it's defined as measured mercy. Ouch.

Another aspect of the rule that makes it the ultimate resolution is that it's a complete surrender of control. It's not me saying I'm going to focus on A, B and C. Even if A, B, and C are good Godly things, they're still my agenda. I'm not saying making my own resolutions would be bad. I'm saying that if God wants me to get in shape, blog twice a week, get out of debt or read one book a month He's going to put the small steps in front of me that will lead down that path.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the inerests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality woth God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. - Phillipians 2:3-7

My prayer for this year, is that by His grace, I would just do the next thing I'm resonably ceretain Jesus wants me to do. No matter how small it may seem.