{"id":1425,"date":"2014-01-01T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtvpastor.com\/?p=1425"},"modified":"2014-01-01T09:00:24","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T15:00:24","slug":"7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/","title":{"rendered":"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Everyone makes New Year\u2019s resolutions, although many of us don\u2019t keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another year of spiritual mediocrity:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Go to church whenever there\u2019s nothing else going on that weekend.<\/strong> Make sure that church involvement is right up there at the top of your priorities (right behind college football, hunting season, travel soccer, weekend getaways, visiting family, and forgetting to set the alarm).<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Give to God if you\u2019ve got a bunch of money left over at the end of the month.<\/strong> This one\u2019s guaranteed to work, because you never have enough money lying around at the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Forgive only if you\u2019re forgiven first.<\/strong> Don\u2019t let go of those bitter grudges until the offending party has properly groveled before you and begged your forgiveness. I\u2019m sure that offending slight that happened six months ago has dominated their thoughts ever since.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Sacrificially serve only when you \u2018feel\u2019 like it.<\/strong> You can take this one to the bank. Do you know how many times you \u2018feel\u2019 like sacrificing your time, energy or resources for someone else? Never!<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Resolve to teach or lead others once you feel fully prepared and ready to do it.<\/strong> This will help you stay on the sidelines all year long. No one ever feels adequately prepared to serve in a leadership role. They just have to do it anyways.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Determine to tackle a big challenge once it seems easy enough.<\/strong> Don\u2019t climb that mountain until it shrinks itself into the size of a hill. This resolution works great with monetary debt, since debt usually grows smaller on its own over time, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. Decide to follow God on the adventure of faith as long as you know how it\u2019s all going to turn out.\u00a0<\/strong>Don\u2019t take a step until God gives you the full picture of where this step of faith will take you. I mean, he\u2019s never asked people to actually take a step of \u2018faith\u2019 before, has he? (Besides Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah, Peter, Paul and basically everyone else in the Bible).<\/p>\n<p><em>QUESTION: What other resolutions would you add to this list?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone makes New Year\u2019s resolutions, although many of us don\u2019t keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another year of spiritual mediocrity: 1. Go to church whenever there\u2019s nothing else going on that weekend. Make sure that church involvement is right up there at the top of your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2490,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[529,846,997,1202],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-food-for-thought","tag-list","tag-new-years","tag-resolution"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Everyone makes New Year&#039;s resolutions, although many of us don&#039;t keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone makes New Year&#039;s resolutions, although many of us don&#039;t keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New Wineskins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Daffern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Daffern\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/\",\"name\":\"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/760f46356a336d4ee50fd9574f10a58b\"},\"description\":\"Everyone makes New Year's resolutions, although many of us don't keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/\",\"name\":\"New Wineskins\",\"description\":\"an apologist for the modern church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/760f46356a336d4ee50fd9574f10a58b\",\"name\":\"Josh Daffern\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75dfae65cf1c6e3e774a15da913d65a6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75dfae65cf1c6e3e774a15da913d65a6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Josh Daffern\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/author\/jdaffern\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity","description":"Everyone makes New Year's resolutions, although many of us don't keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity","og_description":"Everyone makes New Year's resolutions, although many of us don't keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/","og_site_name":"New Wineskins","article_published_time":"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00","author":"Josh Daffern","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Daffern","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/","name":"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-01T15:00:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/760f46356a336d4ee50fd9574f10a58b"},"description":"Everyone makes New Year's resolutions, although many of us don't keep them. These seven resolutions are guaranteed to work if you want to maintain another","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/7-new-years-resolutions-guaranteed-to-maintain-another-year-of-spiritual-mediocrity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 New Year&#039;s Resolutions Guaranteed to Maintain Another Year of Spiritual Mediocrity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/","name":"New Wineskins","description":"an apologist for the modern church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/760f46356a336d4ee50fd9574f10a58b","name":"Josh Daffern","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75dfae65cf1c6e3e774a15da913d65a6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75dfae65cf1c6e3e774a15da913d65a6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Josh Daffern"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/author\/jdaffern\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/newwineskins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}