Do-Gooders, Part 1: Quitters' Day

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

     The New Year’s resolutions kicked in two days early at Planet Fitness in Hamilton. With January First falling on a Wednesday, it seems many folks had the first half of the week off from work. In any case, on Monday the Thirtieth, the place was humming. The same phenomenon, we can reasonably assume, was in play at other fitness centers: people getting a running start on resolutions to be more fit in the new year.

     The same day, I learned a new term. In a TV commercial for Apple Watch products, the second Friday in January was designated “Quitters’ Day.” The idea, apparently, is that people will go guns-a-blazin’ into the new year – for about two weeks. And then the second weekend happens, and there’s post-season football, and sales of Doritos and queso dip go through the roof. By Monday, well intentioned fitness fiends realize they dropped the habit three days ago – on Quitters’ Day – and now it’s too late to restart. “Oh well, there’s always next year,” is the last sigh of resignation.

     Checking the 2025 calendar, we see that Quitters’ Day falls on… holy smokes, that’s today!

     Stick with me, dear Church, this is not a guilt-laden letter I’m writing to you. I won’t be insisting that you huff-and-puff up the next hill, chanting, “I think I can, I think I can…” What the Father has in mind for us, best I can tell, is to understand his instructions to do good for one another – those interlocking, community-building deeds of support and encouragement found in Scripture, especially the New Testament letters from the Apostles to the churches. Understand them, that is, not be flattened by them.

     There is no Quitters’ Day on God’s calendar. Instead, he links promises to mandates, promises made in perfect love and unmitigated power. Over the next few letters, I’m going to highlight the promises. The mandates are easy enough to see on their own. And I know me; and I know you pretty well, too, Church: I know our propensity to get the mandate, print it on a coffee mug, and take off under a head of our own steam. Be advised: Quitters’ Day looms in a future that doesn’t take the promises into account.

     Last week I shared the following prayer/blessing with some friends:

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2Thessalonians 1:11-12).   

     Where, like Waldo, is the promise? The words “resolve” and “work” leap from the screen. Indeed, every hardworking person I’ve ever known would latch onto those right away. But resolve and work are not the ends; they are the means. Let me encourage in you a keen awareness toward a certain delightful phrase in Scripture: “so that.” These two wonderful words introduce the promise – so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him.

     There are dozens of motivations to good works, maybe hundreds. I could build an exhaustive list, but that would be exhausting… for you and me both. Instead, as a major fan of scientific method, I’ll present a hypothesis; then, you and I together can search for biblical evidence to confirm or deny.

     Hypothesis: “The purest motivation to good works is a desire to glorify Jesus.”

     As a starting point, let’s pray for more desire to glorify Jesus. Maybe you’re lacking, maybe you’re not. One thing is for sure: we get distracted. Not saying it’s a sin, only fact. Logically, then, there’s room for more. And it can’t hurt.

     To that end, please see again the prayer/blessing from above. Here, I’ll copy and paste, so you don’t even have to scroll back up:

    To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2Thessalonians 1:11-12).  

     Nineteen-point-five centuries ago, Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy were praying that over the Thessalonian Christians. Jesus – who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25) – is praying it over you and me right now. Our eldest brother wants his younger brothers and sisters to succeed.

     The crowds are already thinning at Planet Fitness. No surprise. I saw an interview with the owner of a different fitness center who said his whole year’s revenues are set in January and February. Wow. Maybe his clients pay a year at a time. Maybe they stay away from Apple Watch commercials longer than I did. My advice on Quitters’ Day is:

 Ignore it.

 

 Grace and Peace (to pray instead of quit),

 

John