The Peril of New Year's Resolutions
Posted on January 7, 2011 by Pastor Tom
How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Some of you made it a day. Some might have lasted a week. Some of you are still going strong. What makes or breaks our ability to carry out a New Year’s resolution?
Let’s think about the process of making a resolution. First, we have to admit reality. We’ve gained weight. We eat or drink too much. We watch a lot of TV or fight with our in-laws. We’re not having enough fun. We’re not spending enough time with someone important. Then we decide what needs to change. We will eat less; drink less; watch less TV or fight less. Or we will have more fun or make more time. Good start.
But now comes the hard part – keeping the resolution. How do we do that? Some of us turn to our inner strength and discipline. Some ask friends to join with so there is built in encouragement. Some hire personal trainers. Some succeed maybe for a month or two or even longer. Some fail or give up.
Why did some succeed and some fail? There are many factors but I think one of the greatest is the R word – Resolve. If a resolution is “a declaration or decision to do something,” resolve is “determination, decision, tenacity and doggedness” to fulfill a resolution. Resolve is great when we’re strong. But what about when we’re weak? That’s when the resolve to carry out resolutions can fail. When that happens, we have another decision to make. Do we give up or get up? Do we live with the freedom to fall down and get back up or do we hold ourselves to some standard that declares we can only fulfill the resolution if we never fail?
Some of my fellow Christians might present themselves as better than you (even though they’re not). Some might claim that you just need to try harder. But I think people who really get Christianity start by admitting they need help to get up.
The whole Christian message is wrapped around God sending Jesus to help the fallen. When God “helps us up” we don’t just go walking off in our own steam never to turn to God again. Christians who get the Bible understand that our life is one of constant dependence on God. That might sound weak and crutch-like. But it’s real. I think New Year’s resolutions and our inability to carry them out consistently exposes in us the reality of our fallen nature.
The great thing about walking with God is that we live in grace. Yes we fall down. But He gives us grace and strength to get back up again. So by the end of 2011, we might have broken a New Year’s resolution 20 times. But we might have kept it 200 times. That’s progress. So whether or not you made some resolutions; whether or not you’ve already broken them, I want to know that there is Someone who can walk with you to make progress on them and the whole of life. If you want to know more about Him, please contact me – pastortom@svbc.ab.ca or 780–458-3777.
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