I have had a list of reminders stuck on my fridge for a number of years. A convenient place because it is simply somewhere I walk past every day. Here were some from before:
They are not really resolutions, nor things I have mastered. Quite the opposite, they are usually there because they are things I am particularly capable of forgetting.
And after all the thinking, learning, struggling, observing, repenting and rethinking that happens over the last year, I thought let’s update the list.
Some of these came out of particular things that happened this year. Some from seeing my own reactions to people and circumstances more clearly. Others are simply old Christian truths that somehow became more personal.
Nothing particularly new here. But most of the things we need are not new information, are they?
We know them, and then we forget them. Then something happens and we discover that knowing something in principle and actually living as though it is true are quite different things.
So, here is my new list. Reminders of how I want to live before God, and trusting Him to keep changing me by His grace.
1. Live wholeheartedly before God
Do not drift through the day half-awake to Him, to the people before me, or to the work He has given me.
Whatever this day contains, I want to receive it as a day in which to love God, love others, and faithfully do the good before me.
2. Live in light of the end 🏃♀️➡️… .. .. .. . . . 🏆
My life is short. I do not know how many days God will give me.
Let that make me neither fearful nor morbid, but clear-minded about what matters.
Do not spend myself on things that will seem empty at the end.
3. When discomfort, pain or hardship comes, remember that this present life is not all there is
Let suffering sober me rather than consume me, remembering the sufferings of Christ, the cost of faithfulness borne by His people, and the eternal realities that make present troubles small by comparison.
4. Do not let my days pass without examining how I have lived before God
Where have I been negligent?
Where have I sinned?
Where have I denied myself in order to obey Christ?
Hold myself to the same standard I apply to others. If I would recognise something as wrong in another person, do not excuse it merely because it is mine.
Neither excuse nor condemn myself endlessly, but see clearly, confess what is wrong, give thanks for grace, and keep growing.
5. Do not repay wrong with wrong 👺👹
Do not act from revenge, resentment, or the desire to diminish another person.
Before I speak, ask whether there is a genuine good reason to speak, whether it is loving and fair, whether I am remembering my own faults, and whether I would want to be spoken of in the same way.
Truth does not require contempt. Disagreement does not give me permission to dishonour.
6. When irritated, hurt, disappointed or provoked, be especially careful about the spirit in which I respond
Do not merely suppress anger outwardly. Resist nurturing it inwardly and deliberately choose kindness, patience, cheerfulness and goodwill.
The moment kindness feels least natural may be the moment when I most need to practise it.
7. Let other people’s faults humble me, not elevate me
Do not use another person’s failure to feel wiser, better or more righteous. When I see weakness, foolishness or sin in another person, remember I too am a sinner entirely dependent on grace.
8. Fight sin at its root
When I recognise a sinful pattern in myself, do not be satisfied merely to regret the latest incident.
Ask what lies underneath it: what desire, fear, pride, attachment, resentment, unbelief or misplaced hope gave it strength?
Deal with the root by God’s grace, not merely clean up the visible consequences.
9. Do my duty and leave the outcome with God
When I am anxious about what may happen, bring my attention back to what God has actually given me to do.
Ask whether I am acting faithfully, wisely and obediently. Then leave what I cannot control to God’s providence.
I am responsible for faithfulness, not for controlling the outcome.
10. Do not waste what hardship teaches me
After a difficult season, ask what God has shown me through it and how I should live differently because of it.
Do not merely feel relieved that the difficulty has passed and then return unchanged to the way I was before.
What did it expose in me?
What did it teach me about God?
What should I repent of, strengthen, loosen my hold on, or practise differently?
May suffering not merely pass over me, but leave me wiser, humbler and more faithful.
Back to the fridge
So those are the new ten. I’ll take one of these each morning and carry it into the day.
Just something to bring me back to what is true.. 🧭