Thinking Christian about New Years Resolutions, Pt 2

The world is becoming increasingly proficient at telling stories that deny God. As such, we need Thinking Christian to become as natural as breathing. Welcome to the Thinking Christian podcast. I'm Dr. James Spencer. Through calm, thoughtful, theological discussions, Thinking Christian highlights the ways God is working in the world and questions the underlying social, cultural, and political assumptions that hinder Christians from becoming more like Christ. Now, on to today's episode of Thinking Christian. Hey, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Thinking Christian. This episode that you're about to listen to is actually a replay. It was a conversation between myself and Richard Beattie last year about New Year's resolutions, how to set them, how to think about them, how to approach them with an appropriate cadence, how to think about progress, those kind of things. I'm replaying it because I think there are some really important points that we made here, and I don't know that I could do it extremely better from a goal-setting and behavioral change sort of perspective this year. So I don't think it's out of bounds what we said last year. I still agree with a lot of it, although in the next episode, I'm going to kind of walk a few things back and try to critique what was talked about in this episode, as well as supplement it with what I've been studying Scripture and having conversations and just talking with people and doing my own private devotionals and studies. I think that I have a slightly different perspective to offer this year on New Year's resolutions than I did last year on New Year's resolutions. And so, yeah, this episode is an important replay. Hopefully, it'll still be helpful and people get a lot out of it this year. But I'd encourage you to listen to the next episode where I sort of qualify some things and then talk about how to go about being transformed as opposed to changing oneself. So enjoy this episode. Have a Merry Christmas, everybody. I know Christmas is coming up and we're running into New Year's. So these are a little early for New Year's, but I'd encourage you to listen to all three at some point. I'd like to think that I'm offering some insights that I've had over the last year that are really sort of hard-won and given to me as I've studied Scripture and, like I said, had conversations with some really great people over this last year. I am going to, to sort of finalize this year on Thinking Christian, we're gonna be replaying some of the episodes that I think are particularly related to this idea of New Year's resolutions and some things maybe we should be thinking through. And so those will be coming up as well as replays throughout the rest of the year for Thinking Christian. So if you haven't caught those episodes, you can catch them this time around. And if you have, maybe give them another listen with this context of setting New Year's resolutions and thinking about being transformed in mind. Enjoy the episode, everybody. Hope you get a lot out of it. And again, Merry Christmas. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Thinking Christian. Today, we are gonna be discussing New Year's resolutions. We're coming up on New Year. New Year's resolutions are a big part of that. And so we thought we'd have a conversation about how to set New Year's resolutions, maybe it'll work, and then also provide you with some opportunities that would be spiritually enriching as New Year's resolutions. So how's it going, Richard? It's good. Good. I was just gonna tell you, you know the history of New Year's resolutions, right? I do not. What do you got? It came from the Babylonians. I'm just reading this now. Historically, the first recorded people to set New Year pledges, later to become known as resolutions. I kind of like pledges, too. I think those are cool. Are the ancient Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. So they've been doing that. And, you know, that's really worked well for Babylon, I know. It's that whole self-reliance thing. They should have made better resolutions. That's right. Yeah, they could have, too. And I think that's what we're gonna talk about today, too, making better resolutions, right? Yeah. You know, I'll admit, I don't usually do a New Year's resolution. I don't either. I usually just sort of decide at some point when I'm gonna start doing something and when I'm not, and then I do it then. Yeah. You know, it's really interesting, because I know that as a CEO and executive director that I have to set objectives for my organization. And I always think of that as almost resolutions in that way, because you're saying, hey, this is what we're gonna do this year. And that's... I guess if you have that kind of mentality, you know, resolutions could probably be pretty good, especially when you're accountable to others, like you and I are both accountable to a board, right? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, there's a sense in which New Year's could be a good place to start. Now, I will say this. I find certain... I find the New Year's to be difficult to start something for a number of reasons, me personally. And so usually when I think of my New Year's resolutions, I'm thinking around like January 10th, January 15th, if I'm gonna actually start something. Right. Because, you know, that time period between Christmas and New Year's is so busy. Like, you know, I just tend to have other things that aren't normal things, right? You've got a New Year's party here. You've got, you know, whatever it is you're doing. You know, the kids tend to have stuff. And there's really good food around, too. There's really good food around. So yeah, if you're doing some sort of fitness or nutrition-based goal, sometimes that can be problematic. So, you know, what I... You know, I guess the first thing I would say to folks when they're thinking about the New Year's resolutions is don't get stuck on New Year's. Right. Right. If you're thinking, hey, I got to start on January 1st after you've just had, you know, even if you've just stayed up with your kids to watch the ball drop, right? I would tell you that me at 45 staying up past midnight anymore, I'm kind of wrecked the next day. I'm like, I need my 10 o'clock bedtime if I'm gonna be functioning the next day. And so you're kind of setting yourself up for failure if you're deciding that, no, January 1st has to be the thing. If it's gonna be a New Year's resolution, it's got to be there. And what I would say is, no, like, prepare to resolve. Right? Like, put yourself in a situation where the resolution is actually going to be possible. Right. And so I wouldn't worry too much, even though you might call it a New Year's resolution. I wouldn't worry too much about the January 1st start date. That may or may not be a great time for you to do, you know, your resolution at that first time. I just know, you know, again, from my time as personal trainer, right? January 1st generally was not a great day for people to work out. You know, the people I was working out often had had a really good time the night before. And so they'd come in and their workouts were non-enjoyable for them. They were, and it wasn't like I was trying to, you know, hurt anybody, but they were not feeling physically well. And so when they'd come in to work out, you know, everything that is sort of torturous in the gym, depending on who you ask, right? They're feeling that torture that much more. And so I just think that as people look at their New Year's resolutions, backing them out and saying, what's realistic for me to start this? You know, do I want to start it? Like I said, if I was going to do one, and I do have some goals for next year, but I'm looking at them more like end of January, right? My kids have a lacrosse tournament out in California mid-January. And so it's like, well, that's going to be a real hiccup. But after that, I don't have much planned that is going to, you know, create problems. And so, you know, I'll just hold it off until after that, come back, and then I'll hit it hard. It's, that's the kind of thing that I think we need to be thinking through as we, or at least my first tip for people who are making resolutions. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free Retirement Defense Guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Right, right. Yeah, I think that's good. I think you invented gradual resolutions. I think that's good. I'll gradually get to it. It's New Year's-ish. New Year's-ish resolutions. That's right. That's right, New Year's-ish. It is in the new year, and even though you're only getting some of those, some of those things done within... You know, what about quarterly resolutions, like

I can do this week two and go on to 13. Those are kind of nice. And, you know, it really keeps things new when you do things that way. And I tend to like that, that method. I do, too. I think the one caveat I put on it is to say, if you're going to do those sort of quarterly type goals or add something new every week, I think what you have to be prepared for is, you know, the week before needs to be successful before you add in, you know, something else the second week. Absolutely, right. And so, again, I'll sort of liken it to weight training, right? You know, it would be awesome to add weight to the bar every time I went to the gym, right? It's not going to happen. Right. The reality is, if, you know, I try to bench, you know, 350 pounds or something like that one week and don't get it, I shouldn't add 355 the next. Right. Right. There's a very low likelihood that I'm getting that after I've just missed 350. And so you have to calibrate those on where you are and what your success level has been. Right. And so, you know, as you're trying to build toward, you know, a greater and greater goal achievement, right, moving toward your resolution, my advice to people is pick something that is the bare minimum that you know you can do. Right. Right. So what I would say is something like I did this with my prayer time. I traditionally I have not been a very good prayer time person. I'm an academic geek. I'll sit and read for hours. Like, it's no problem for me. I love doing it. But prayer just felt like it was distracting me from my reading. And so, you know, I took what I did was I said, no, it's probably not, you know, that's not the right way to frame prayer at all. And so what I started doing was I started reading prayers. So I lean into my strengths, right? So I'd read one prayer. I got a book of prayers and I'd read one prayer before I started studying. And then pretty soon, you know, a couple of weeks after that, stayed pretty consistent. Then I started writing out my own prayers. I could actually sit down again. You know, I'm a reader and a writer. And so it made intuitive sense for me to sort of craft the prayers that I was that I was actually praying. There was something about writing them down that made them more concrete. It kept my mind more focused, gave me time to really think it through. And then eventually I sort of progressed beyond both of those and started, you know, reading my own prayers and then, you know, saying my own prayers. But it wasn't a very long time. I would say even now, you know, I don't take any more than, you know, 10 minutes of prayer a day. I just it for me, that's a really hard buildup. Yeah. And I don't, you know, I really appreciate people who can do it for an hour or something like that. That is in no way, shape or form where I'm at. And so for me to think, though, that I'm going to go from zero to an hour is crazy town. Right. I needed that progression. And so I think as we look at it from that sort of progressive standpoint, that would be sort of my second tip for people is start with the minimum. Lean into your strengths and start with the minimum. Right. Do something you're actually going to do. Right. Don't, you know, again, to go back to exercise, you know, don't program. If you haven't been working out, trust me, don't program seven days a week workouts. I've been working out since I was 14 years old. It's difficult for me to get seven days in. Right. I usually do four or five. Right. And that's pretty good for me. But even then, my workouts aren't that long, especially not anymore. I mean, I do maybe 40, 45 minutes and that's it. And so I think, you know, there has to be that calibration of where you are, where you want to be and all the small incremental steps that you need to get there. Well, and I think you hit on one thing as far as incorporating prayer into something that you enjoy doing as well. You were talking about prayer. You're about to initiate the 30 days of the gospel. Incorporating prayer into that reading is certainly when you pray the gospels, that can be really powerful. Yeah, it can be. And I think that's a really sort of as we go through those 30 days, that'll be part of what we're doing. And so the goal of 30 Days in the Gospels really puts some of these principles into practice, right? I think, you know, most people, at least I've talked to, they do have, they do read their Bibles during the day at some point. But, you know, I talked to about, I don't know, four or five people at my church, and they all said the same thing, which isn't a real big focus group, but, you know, it is what it is. They said they'll read their Bibles, but it doesn't feel particularly systematic. It doesn't feel like they're building anywhere, right? They're reading sort of varied passages or they're doing a devotional that kind of hops around. And so it's good, but they don't really get like sort of a sequence narrative of the scriptures. And so the 30 Days in the Gospels is really intended to do that. It's intended to say, okay, we're not going to cover every passage in the gospels. You're going to read every passage, but we're not going to cover every passage. But what we're going to try to do is give you the overarching understanding of each of those four gospels as we go. And then the plan is actually after that to go into the book of Acts. It seems like a natural move to move into the book of Acts. And so, yeah, I think incorporating prayer into that is going to be an important aspect of what we do and trying to make sure that we not only, you know, sort of learn head knowledge, right? But I mean, the distinction I usually make is when, you know, when Jesus tells his disciples, go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all I've commanded you. Well, there's a difference between those people learning to observe Jesus and just learning about Jesus. Right. And so we're going to try to push to be hearers and doers of God's word because I think knowing God's word comes from the doing as much as it comes from the reading. And so that'll be in the mix as well. So all of it should be pretty reinforcing. But yeah, definitely. I think it's going to be designed to, you know, number one, give people a fairly easy way to do it. It's going to be a podcast. And so, you know, 30 minutes a day, you know, while you're driving, whatever it is you're doing. And then number two, it does set some sort of incremental level, right? Right. That is fairly simple. If you can devote this much time during your day to sort of reading or listening to actually just four chapters a day max to read through the gospels in 30 days. And so that's not that long. No. Yeah, it's not. And as I said, you know, sometimes incorporating your gifts and talents, if you are a writer and you want to interpret something, go ahead and do that. While, you know, that's, that is, that's like active prayer. Sure. As a songwriter, I do the, I try to do the same thing. I try to think, boy, what was the, what was the phrase and what was the repeat? You know, what was, what's the verse? What's the chorus? What's the bridge here? Yeah. And then, uh, and it's really kind of, it, it makes it, it actually makes songwriting even more fun that way too. Um, but, and it becomes a prayer. I'm sure. Yeah. I think, you know, a lot of these little tips, um, I think they relate to things outside of resolutions, right? So, um, you know, writing, for instance, I've been doing a lot more writing lately. And so I've sort of made the commitment that I'm going to spend at least 15 minutes writing a day and it doesn't really matter. I'll just sit down and type, you know, I'll type out ideas. I'll type out themes I don't want to cover. I'll type out, you know, ideas, maybe do a paragraph or two, you know, whatever. And I just keep them and then kind of sock them away different places. But it keeps me in the rhythm of writing. Right. And it does give me an outlet just to think about things and synthesize what I've been reading or synthesize what I've been looking at. And so, um, yeah, playing to your strengths like that. And again, it won't be writing for everybody, right? Some people, um, they need just time to decompress. They need a quiet place where they're doing nothing. Right. And I think that's great too. Like, that's definitely not me. But, um, you know, my, my wife and I are very different in this respect. Right. Um, you know, if I need a break from doing what I usually do during the day, I'll hit the gym. That is not her go-to at all. Right. She's much more of the quiet space, quiet time, like, please nobody bother me kind of, you know, person. Right. And that's just how she recharges. And so I think that you have to

and say you're willing to give up. You know, I've watched much less TV over the last six months, right? Because I've been trying to write a book and I've been trying to get in better shape and, you know, those kind of things. And TV is just one of those things, like, I like watching TV, right? I like my football. I like movies. I like TV shows. Like, I like them. But at the end of the day, I had to, you know, sort of gut up and just say, is it worth, which do I want more? Right. Do I want to catch up on this TV show or do I want to work out or do I want to write this book? Like, what do I care about more? Right. And so, setting those priorities is, I think, as important as determining the resolution. Well, and that is kind of a fresh way of looking at things, too, because, you know, I texted my brother. We're a family of New York Giant fans, and the Giants got off to this horrible start this year. And I just said, hey, this is going to be more time for me to go cross-country skiing this year because I don't have to worry about the Giants. I'm not going to follow them. Right. You don't have to watch. You know the outcome. That's right. So sometimes, you know, it's designed that way to say, oh, I could give that up. Right. Why not give up some misery? I mean, you know, that's right. Sometimes it's easier choice than others, right? That's right. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up, and many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free Retirement Defense Guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Yeah, I think it's like that. I think we just have to be cognizant of the things that are sort of stealing away our time. You know, I do this organizationally a lot, and I think it applies to individuals, too. We tend to talk about our lack of resource, lack of time, lack of money, lack of energy, lack of, lack of, lack of, lack of. But we don't usually account for is what we're actually spending that time, money, energy, what have you on. And so, you know, do you feel better after you've just, you know, I would say, I don't feel better after I have laid on the couch for three hours watching football. Right. Now, I enjoy a football game, right? But I don't feel better. Right. And so, you know, with the wonders of modern technology, I can have a game on while I'm working out. Right. Right? That's better. It's better for me to do that. And so there are ways that you can kind of come around that, but the reality is, most of the time, when organizations tell me they don't have time, resource, money, whatever, I usually say, sure you do. You're just spending it in the wrong places. Right. And also, as, you know, I go to Denver to work with the team in Denver once a week, but I have a three-hour drive there and a three-hour drive back. And so I have, I mean, again, wonders of technology. Some of these podcasts are just outstanding. That's right. And you get so much out of that as a, whether it's a media professional or a business person or a Christian. You know, if I'm improving my walk and I'm hearing some good teaching, man, that's really good. I just put on James Spencer. And so it's... Well, listen, I mean, it's a really great point. I think one of the things that I normally raise with people is, okay, so you say you want to read more, right? If you limit yourself to reading in paper form, Right. Right. That implies a lot of other things in your life. Right. It means that you're going to carve out enough time to sit quietly and read a book. And while I have the privilege, benefit, whatever we want to say, like I get to read books a lot, and I love it. You know, I do make time for it. I'm usually up really early in the morning and down in my office reading. And it's great. But the reality is I know not everybody wants to do that and really has a commitment to do that, especially if you're just starting to read. And so usually what I suggest to people is this. Do you really want to read or do you want to be more informed? Right. Because those are two separate things. Right. Right. And so if you really want to be more informed, now your options open up on the type of media that you could actually listen to. Absolutely. Right. You know, you can do an audio book. You can do a podcast. You can do, you know, documentaries are super cool. Like, you know, and you can make room for some of those things depending on what your really, what your goal really is. Now, if your goal is really just, no, I want some quiet time to sit by myself and be with my thoughts. Reading can become ancillary to that. Right. But you could do other things as well. You don't actually have to have a book to sit quietly and get in touch with your thoughts. And so trying to sharpen your focus on what your resolution is really trying to get you to, I think is extremely important. Yeah. You know, I really think that just because of how much I listen to things, you know, there's been a kind of a disservice a little bit because everything is so YouTube oriented nowadays that people who drive, there's really, we've been talking a little bit more about audio education because I I get, you know, six hours in a car, you know, at just things that I'm interested in listening to has been a really good thing. And I'm, and I am, I'm an oratory learner. That's, you know, I've I've always. My dad was kind of crippled with arthritis. And when he stopped being able to do things around the house, he used to have to talk me through if we had like an emergency of a, you know, a pilot flame went out or whatever. So I began to really just, I began to be a really good listener. So I. I and being a musician and everything like that, a lot of that is also oratory. I mean, there's some physical things to it, but it's, it's both. It's, it's, it's kind of fine motor skills along with with listening. And I think a lot of people are built that way. And so, so if that's one thing I always said, you know, I'm some basically you're an author. And I said, well, I'm, I'm more of a, I'm more of a, an audio author, you know, I, I like, I like public speaking. I like doing those things. I've been in, in, in radio and media for a long time, but it is, it is this kind of conversation that, that I tend to, it tends to stimulate my brain. Yeah. And I think at the end of the day, you know, creativity is a great example, right? If, if your goal, you, if you, if you're saying to yourself for your new year's resolution, you want to be more creative, let's say. Right. And just like what you said, well, people say you're an author. Well, or I'm more of an audio author. Well, your outlook for creativity is more in the audio setting. It's more in the media setting. Right. My daughter loves to paint, right? I was more of a drawer when I was in high school, like pen and, you know, pen and ink or pencil. I really enjoyed doing that. She doesn't enjoy that. Right. She'll sit and paint just to relax and, you know, do that. And that's great. Right. And so I think that, you know, as we sharpen these ideas of what exactly are we resolved to do? Right. We start to find our niches. And so we just want to make sure that we're not narrowing, artificially narrowing what we're trying to do by defining that medium too tightly. Right. And, you know, again, to sort of return to the workouts, you know, I'm not built for yoga. I just, it's my wife and I have done a few different times. It's always comical to me. I, you know, I find the instructors some really funny, but I,

It did. I actually, there's a funny story. So we had a yoga instructor at the old personal training gym that I worked at. And she was going to miss class. And so there's all these people there for yoga. And my boss kind of says, hey, James, do you think you could run this yoga class? And I'm like, I can try. I mean, I'm nowhere near built for yoga, but I can lead people through a stretch session if that's what you want. So, you know, I kind of faked it. There was no deep breathing. There was no, you know, I'm sure it wasn't anywhere near as light and fluffy as they were used to. But the point is, you know, it can be a good way to get in shape. You know, you leave all the spiritual junk at the door, but it can be a good way to get in shape, right? It's just not one that I happen to choose. Right. Some people run marathons. Some people bike triathlons or whatever they do. Right. I'm just a sort of gym rat. I love lifting weights. And so none of those are better or worse necessarily, but they need to be fitted to who you are. They need to be actually benefiting you. And I think once you find one that you actually enjoy, it's much easier to go, you know, move toward that resolution. Right. If I hate being on the treadmill and I say, well, I, you know, I want to get in better cardiovascular health and I've got, you know, the choice between a rower and a treadmill. I hate the treadmill. I should not choose the treadmill. It's crazy. Right. So we've got to figure out in and of ourselves, you know, what is it that we really love? And, you know, for you, it might not be sitting down and writing. Right. For me, it might be. Right. There's no problem with that. Like we can both exercise creativity in different ways. Right. I would just say the other thing that that I have found really helps me is, and this is a simple one, just interpersonal accountability. I think particularly if people are trying to kick a bad habit. Right. Yes. Right. And obviously not. I'm not thinking in terms of, you know, heavy addiction, like, you know, alcohol addiction or drug addiction or something like that. They're just trying to kick a bad habit. I've always been a big fan of sort of, well, I'll give the story. When I was trying to lose weight, I lost about 50 pounds in 2016. And, you know, my family did it along with me. It's not like they lost 50 pounds, too. But the reality was they couldn't keep all the junk food and that, you know, all the stuff that I wasn't supposed to eat in the house and expect that I wasn't going to eat it, too. Right. And so they were sort of on the journey with me. Oh, that's nice. Which is really cool. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that that sort of community, that interpersonal accountability, that, hey, I'm trying to stop X. Right. And then having the people in your life around you say, that's cool. We'll make sure that we're not tempting you to do X or, you know, we'll stop doing X for a time, too. So, you know, if it's smoking. Right. You can imagine if you're trying to stop smoking and you live in a house with another smoker. That's going to be challenging. Right. When I was trying to lose weight and, you know, if there had been Oreos sitting out or something, I really enjoyed eating. I don't know. It's not Oreos, but, you know, like there are certain meals that it's hard for me to pass up on. Right. And if those have been around regularly, I wouldn't have passed up on them. Right. I'm a sucker for a hot pretzel. Like I love hot pretzels. So, you know, if my son was eating hot pretzels every night and I'm like salivating over them, I'm probably not going to skip them. But he didn't. And so I think that there's a sense in which we need to have sort of a community of people around us to say, look, I'm trying to do this. I could use some help. Is there any way you could help me achieve this resolution? In other words, resolutions aren't just individual things. They're usually a bit communal. Right. You know, that's good. That's it is good to have the support. And, you know, that's that's kind of what family is about. It's what community is about, even in that way. And so, you know, we we try to help each other in in a lot of ways. And that's that's the way that's the way it's designed. And you're going to be successful and they're going to be successful. And it might not be the same way. But it's but it but it is that way. I just still haven't got over the image of you teaching yoga. But that's I don't think anybody has really knows in breathe in. Oh, man, it was it was the roughest yoga session anybody's ever had. I knew like three moves. I think we did some walking lunges in there. I mean, it was oh, yeah, it was the yeah, it was the absolute oddest yoga session you'd ever want to be to. So but it wasn't videotaped. Right. I think they ended up giving the session away for free. But, you know, at least they got a workout in. And I think that was the whole goal. Yoga by Dr. James Spencer. Yeah. Yeah. I knew we had Pilates in-house, too. And I was like, never Pilates. I don't even understand what's happening in there. Yeah, I was just reading something on Joseph Pilates, the the Italian guy who came up with Pilates. Very interesting story. And there were some there were some actors that were involved in the very early Pilates. And they actually studied with Joseph Pilates. And I thought, wow, that that'd be interesting. So that I I don't do Pilates. I think, you know, honestly, I think part of the reason that I like weight training and part of the reason that I wanted to have this conversation about New Year's resolutions, right, you know, weight training always lends itself to progress. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text guide to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text guide to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Thank you. You either add weight or you add reps or you add sets. You add something as you're moving. And so it's always a progressive movement. There's very seldom a time when you're sitting back and you say, well, I'm just going to maintain at this level and you never have to progress again. Even maintenance usually requires some level of progression. And I think it's a great analogy then to how people can progress in their daily lives. Finding something that they want to get rid of because it's hindering what they're doing and finding something they want to replace that hindrance with that they're resolving to do. I think weight training is always a really great example of that versus something like yoga, which I don't like stretching at all. It's not as intuitive to me how you see progress in yoga. In other words, I'm sure there is progress in yoga. I'm not saying that, but in the weight room, you put an extra plate on. You do an extra rep. You do an extra set. You do an extra exercise. Like, you know exactly what you're doing. Yoga, it feels like, yeah, I'm getting more flexible and I can see how flexible it is, but there's not a real objective measurement there. It's more about feel. And I've always liked that sort of tangibility of the weight room where you can actually feel things happening. And that's what I'd encourage people to do as they're thinking about the New Year's resolutions. You know, it's a question of setting yourself up for success. And I think, you know, like I said, part of that is making sure you're ready to actually implement the resolution, right? Don't do it on January 1st after you've been up all night. Right. Not a great time for you to have resolve on anything. It's more a good time for you to take a nap. And so unless you're resolving to nap more, January 1st may not be your best day. I'm going to take more naps this year. That's right. You know, but, you know, do that. Take it in small chunks. Like progress small. Right. Minimum standards. You know, if you can allocate 15 minutes and you know you'll always get that 15 minutes in, boom. That's where you start. And you can progress up from there and then get some help, you know. Enlist people to come. I've lifted on my own for a lot of years. Now my daughters like to lift weights. And it's super fun to have them in there with me. I mean, I don't, you

You know, I was reading a little bit in one of my other shows about cognitive behavioral therapy, and that is increments. That is building a system, moments that you can say, boy, how do I, how can I become, how can I practice more humility? And you do the little steps to do that. You kind of take on a service orientation of what you're doing. It's the same thing with just about anything. If you took cognitive behavioral therapy and you just put flowcharts together or steps on how you're going to do that, maybe that's the way we should be doing resolutions. And I think that gets back to our original conversation here. Yeah, I think it is. And I think even within our own spiritual lives, and people may seem like this sounds like too behaviorist, right? I don't believe Christianity is about changing just our behavior. It's about a total transformation. But I personally believe that you don't get that transformation until you're actually trying God. So that Malachi 3.10 verse we've talked about multiple times, where God tells the Israelites, you know, test me, see what happens if you obey me. Just test me. And I think there's something to that, that in the Christian life, we need to be taking small steps of obedience, even if we don't understand what this is going to do or how God's going to affect it. Like, I think obedience a lot of times doesn't make sense, right? On the sort of meta level, it always makes sense, right? I mean, God is the sovereign of the universe. He's more relevant than anything we could ever face. And so obeying him makes perfect sense on that level. But in the tedium of our lives, obedience often seems to take us off course, right? And it seems to be like the meandering way around a problem, let's say. But I think we don't really understand and know God as deeply until we start obeying him. And that requires us just to do something, to really trust God with something and to test him in the way that he's calling Malachi, you know, calling people to test him in Malachi. It's not about, you know, okay, God, you know, when Satan tempts Jesus to jump off the temple so that the angels will catch him, right? Jesus says, no, you're not to test the Lord your God. But I think that the way Jesus lived his life was a constant demonstration that he trusted God. Right, right. And he trusted God by obeying God. And so we need to do that same kind of thing. That, to me, is the real kicker. And when we think about it from a cognitive behavioral sort of standpoint, that's where we end up needing to be. We need to recognize that some of these small behaviors that we would implement time over time. Yes. You know, are going to give us a different vision of the way God moves and acts in our lives. And that's really important, I think, for our spiritual growth. Well, I want to close with, actually, one that the Apostle Paul gave us, and that's that daily activity of renewing the mind. And, you know, Romans 12, that's one that I have tried to practice. I wish I did it on a daily basis, but wow, that is test God on that one and see what happens. I think that's a good way to take that Malachi verse and bring it into our everyday lives. And that goes back to our prayer. And that goes back to our prayer life, anyhow. And all of those things, that renewing the mind and really on the word. So I'm really looking forward to this 30 day in the Gospels and then going to Acts. Again, we're taking them in increments. That's right. It's not the firehose. That's right. That's right. So I thank you for that, James. And this has been a good show. I'm all ready for the new year. Got your resolutions ready for January 15th, right? I do, yes. New Year's-ish. Yeah, New Year's-ish. I like that. I think we should all celebrate New Year's-ish. Well, very good. And this has been a great conversation. So I appreciate you having it with me. And folks out there listening, thanks for tuning in to Thinking Christian. We'll catch you on the next episode. Just want to take a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the Thinking Christian podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. Have you ever attempted to read the entire Bible? Did you do it or did you only make it partway? I'm John Stonge and I host a podcast that will make it possible for you to make it through the entire Bible one chapter at a time. I've been hosting the Chapter a Day Audio Bible podcast since 2015. And every single day of the week, I read one chapter of Scripture, then follow that up with a time of prayer. And if you're looking for daily insights and inspiration directly from God's Word, I hope you'll give the Chapter a Day Audio Bible a listen. You can find it at lifeaudio.com or on your favorite podcasting app.