Should Christians make New Years resolutions?

G’day everyone, Dave Deane here, and our question for the week is: Should Christians make ‘New Years Resolutions’?

The end of the calendar year brings with it all sorts of traditions. Interestingly, the tradition of making New Years Resolutions spans back in the East to ancient Babylon, and in the West, to ancient Rome. In fact it was the Romans who kicked off the year by making promises to the god Janus, from where we derive the name of ‘January’.

But should Christians make ‘New Years Resolutions’? Well, I want to suggest three things in response.

First: the idea of a New Years Resolution hints at an eternal hunger.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis has one of his characters,the senior demon Screwtape, tell his underling, Wormwood: “We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present.”

What Lewis is getting at is the human drive to live for the future; for tomorrow, to the neglect of today because of some sort of dissatisfaction we have in the present. But, all we can really be sure of, is the moment we are in right ‘now’ – the present. The past is gone, and the future – while it is prudent to plan for it – it doesn’t yet exist… it’s just an idea, which isn’t guaranteed. So, if we’re not careful, we may miss out on the present where we actually live chasing after this fantasy – literally, that word means phantasm, or mental image – this idea of tomorrow… the ideas aren’t guaranteed… and nor is tomorrow. Because for all of us, there will be at least one day when we will have no more tomorrow.

As James writes: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (Jas 4:13–15)

Now, I’m getting pretty heavy pretty quickly, but it’s interesting to consider, isn’t it? I mean, if there wasn’t some sort of recognised deficiency, some sort of recognised ‘lack’ or restlessness in our lives right now, today, there would be no need for New Years Resolutions at all! But that we have them, and that we make them, speaks directly to the human predicament and this journey we are all on in life moving us from where we are to where we want to be.

What accounts for that movement? For that desire to change, to grow? What ultimately is that end to which we are moving?  Well, if it is the things of this world, then once we achieve them or acquire them, we should be satisfied, right? But there’s always room for improvement, isn’t there? Life goes on, and with the turning of the calendar, so the New Years Resolutions continue.

And this, I think, gets us to a second point.

Second: what matters more than the month is the motivation of our resolve.

Despite some of the pagan origins in the promises made for the New Year, whether in Babylon or Rome, Christians do not, or should not, see the changing of the calendar as some sort of mystic opportunistic moment for change. December 31 rolls to January 1^st, in much the same way as June 30 rolls to July 1^st.

Nevertheless, the IDEA of a new year obviously brings a sense of ‘newness’ or ‘opportunity’ that shouldn’t be dismissed to the side. Regardless of the origins, New Years resolutions can have real pragmatic impacts. Some studies I saw had the top resolutions relating to exercise, diet and earning more money; and for Christians, often goals include things like reading the bible in a year, committing to being more faithful in sharing the gospel and/or things like praying for the persecuted church and so on.

Collectively, there’s nothing wrong with any of these things, whether physical or spiritual. The issue is not ‘making resolutions in a particular month of the year’, but rather the ‘motivation behind our resolve as Christians’.

For example, the Christian who resolves to, say, improve their exercise and diet, when asked ‘why’ is that a resolution? The answer could have many reasons, desire for health, self-esteem, for a particular sporting event, and so on, but more fundamental to each and all of these, the Christian should, I think, be motivated first and foremost by their desire to honour the Lord with the body He has given them. As the apostle Paul says, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19-20); or as he follows up a little later, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31).

I mean, if Christians reserve our resolve to grow and mature, especially in areas of spirituality, to one particular time of the year, then, well, something’s a little off with our understanding of Christianity. My faith in my wife is not realised once a year, but many times every single day. That’s what relationships are like! Christian faith is not an annual event, anymore than church is a once a week affair. It is a completely new existence of knowing and being knowing by God.

So, for example, if your goal is to get yourself into a better financial situation this coming year, is that primarily so you can be a better steward of the resources God has given you, or so that you can store up treasures here on earth (Matthew 6:19)?

Or if your goal is to grow in your knowledge of the Bible, is that because you want to be enriched and encouraged, and be an encouragement to others, or because you want to be seen by others to be knowledgeable (Matthew 23:5)?

So, again, what matters is not the time we make resolutions, nor the fact we make resolutions themselves; what matters is the motivation undergirding our resolve as God’s people. If the fact we make New Years resolutions hints at an eternal hunger in the human heart, then we should take care and discipline to ensure that our motivation is directed towards that end, in pursuit of our relationship with Jesus who has given us eternal life.

Thirdly and finally, the Christian life is more about daily realisations than new years resolutions.

How often have you made a new years resolution only to get part way into the year and realise you haven’t achieved it? So you throw in the towel? ‘Well, I’ll try that again next year…’ Or, conversely, how often have you resolved to change and succeeded, so you move to the next and the next goal confident in your abilities to see your resolutions through to completion?

These failures and successes, lows and highs, are a part of life. But for the Christian, our life is hid in Christ, which means that ‘we do what we do because of who we are’ not the other way around… we don’t try to achieve certain results to be accepted or satisfied; we are already accepted and satisfied in Christ which is why we do what we do with excellence. And this flip-around, however subtle, is so important because self help and sheer will power can be detrimental if we aren’t careful. One marvellous reality of the power of the gospel in the life of a Christian is how stabilising it is to be in a sure and secure loving relationship with Jesus. To know and be known by God makes it possible for our successes to not go to our heads because we recognise we are sinners saved by grace, and conversely, makes it possible for our failures to no go to our hearts because that failure does not define us; it’s not about our ability or performance, but Jesus and what he secured for us on the cross. Our identity is not found in our resolve but our redemption. And our redemption is not an annual renewal, but a daily realisation insofar as it is true of us at all times.

So with all of that said, friends, make your New Years Resolutions by all means, and as you do, pray about them daily, submitting them as you do all things, at the foot of the cross that God may be glorified through them, and you, in turn, satisfied in the joy of knowing your Maker. This is the hope we have – not in the change that can be brought about by New Years Resolutions, but a hope of personal growth and change that is built on nothing less, that Jesus’ blood and righteousness… we dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.