Post by Pastor Tim – 2014 brought a realization to the Dillmuth family that we weren’t wholeheartedly “hearing and doing the word” in relation to certain things the Lord was trying to teach us.  In other words, we were certainly hearing the word, but we weren’t always putting that word into practice!

It was no coincidence that Matthew 7:24-27 was the very first Scripture passage of the year that our family began to memorize.  It says,

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.   And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

This passage of Scripture helped us as we prayerfully thought over our New Year’s Resolutions (and yes, we do make resolutions every year).   Each of us, including our three young children, took time to make spiritual, financial, educational, and physical goals for 2014.  As we’ve often done in years past, we tried not to make a laundry list of resolutions but rather to carefully fashion our resolutions after things that God has been teaching us which we hadn’t yet put into practice.

This helped the process of goal-setting come alive for our children because each resolution was tied more closely to the present work of God in our lives. Here are some examples of the resolutions that our family made . . .

1. Caleb (11 yrs. old) – He has admittedly had a hard time obeying his mom my and me with a good attitude.  He has recognized this for quite some time and yet has failed to put it into practice.  Caleb was able to identify this after reading Matthew 7:24-27, and has taken a few practical steps to correct his attitude.  For example, he has decided to make this a matter of prayer each morning and ask for the Lord’s help.  He will also chart his attitude (along with my help) to see if he is making any noticeable improvements.
2. Emily (9 yrs. old) – Emily recognized that she frequently has trouble in her interactions with her sister.  Emily is very respectful to her parents and to her friends, but she doesn’t always treat her siblings with that same respect.  She was particularly convicted by Proverbs 15:1, and she has committed to work on this in 2014.
3. Annie (6 yrs. old) – Annie has trouble interacting with adults and it has been a recurring challenge in our DOTW Discipleship Group.  She refuses to speak (or sometimes even look at) the other adults in the room.  Although she is certainly shy, we found that it is also the result of some sinful stubbornness.  Annie has agreed to work at this each week as her “hear the word, do the word” resolution.
4. Me (young at heart) – We practice household worship quite regularly, but the quality of our time isn’t always the best.  We often have our worship time later in the evening and on the “all too comfortable” couch.  I’ve noticed this problem for a little while and hadn’t done anything about it until recently when I resolved to have the majority of our household worship time around the table right after dinner.

Using the Matthew 7:24-27 model of making resolutions, what “hear the word, do the word” resolutions do you need to make?