The New Year holiday has become a time of hopeful expectancy. Some find joy in a new, crisp and clean planner hoping to be more productive and fruitful than ever. Some view the new year as an opportunity to start over and erase any ugly memories from the year prior. Of course, there are also the realists who recognize that a date change doesn’t wipe a slate clean; they enter into January 2023 with the knowledge that December 2022’s baggage has come along with them. But no matter what camp one may resonate with, most people desire to be better and to do better. This leads us to form a variety of goals and resolutions.
There are few disciplined enough to follow through on some of their resolutions for all 365 days, but for the rest of us humans, we will likely reach a point where we fall short of our own standards. Our self-discipline declines, our patience tested, and our hearts grow restless and weary. Once more, we may find ourselves frustrated that we are stuck in the same old patterns that enslaved us in years prior. Do you long to be a “better” woman? wife? mom? Homemaker? student? worker? local church member? Do you long to see lasting, inward transformation? We need more than man-made resolutions to hold us accountable; we need supernatural sanctification. The answer to our problem is simple: Jesus.
Trust in Jesus
Why do we desire to want to do better and be better? It’s because we know we are broken and we want to fix ourselves. The message of the Gospel is like a sledgehammer to the chest confronting us with the reality that we are separated from a Holy God. It tells us that “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). On top of that, we cannot earn right-standing with God. Our attempted “good deeds'' fall short of His standard and no rule, law, or resolution can cure our total depravity. But the Gospel also tells us that God through the person of Jesus took on flesh, faced every temptation we’ve ever faced yet did not sin, and fulfilled the law perfectly. He died the death that we deserve and paid the penalty for our sins. If we repent and believe in Him, we are united to Jesus in His life, death, burial, and resurrection, thereby breaking us from the curse of sin and death! We now have a righteous standing before God because His righteousness was imputed to us.
The Gospel is the greatest reminder we can cling to during this time of year. This gift of salvation declares us instantaneously righteous! We are now new creations in Christ. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit and our hearts of stone are exchanged for a heart of flesh. Holy living is now made possible.
Abide in Jesus
The world attempts to emulate many of the fruits of the Spirit, purporting that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so forth are attainable if we just try harder, plan better, or remove ourselves from the negative situations that trigger us. But Paul offers a lasting solution. He tells the Philippian Church that the secret in the high’s and low’s is Christ who gives Him strength (Phippians 4:12-13). The secret is that joy-fueled living and increasing holiness isn’t born out of zero adversity or the start of a new quarter, it comes from the One who was tempted and suffered but never sinned. Yes, we are new creations but our ability to live holy lives is not done in isolation. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the life source, the vine, so we too cannot bear fruit apart from Christ.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” — John 15:4-5
In order for us to abide in Jesus, His Word must abide in us. Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” Oh, how many times I’ve felt the pressure to be in God’s Word because I felt like it was something I should do. My motivation for quiet time became an obligation. But Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that the Scriptures are “…living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” In other words, Bible reading isn’t so we can say we read the Bible in a year. It’s not so we can put a check on our reading plan. It’s not even so we feel like we are a “better Christian.” We need God’s Word to rightly understand who He is, who we are, and how we should then live with this knowledge. We don’t live by bread alone but on the very words of God (Mat. 4:4). Scripture is our life source!
Additionally, Scripture continually emphasizes that there are those who distort and twist God’s Word out of selfish ambition and a desire to profit from the poor souls who fall into their deceptive traps. This life-giving book provides us with discernment and protects us from falling into error. Grasping these truths will fuel us to always be on guard while also preparing us to be ready for those who ask for a reason for the hope within us (2 Peter 3:15).
If we love Jesus, we will keep His commands (John 14:15) and He has most certainly revealed His will for us within the pages of Scripture. The beauty of studying it and meditating on it is that the Holy Spirit will illuminate it and help us apply it. Our delight in God leads to right desire and right living.
In Conclusion
We can make all the resolutions in the world but none of them will bring about true, lasting change. No resolution can turn our hearts of stone to a heart of flesh. Salvation is a gift we don’t deserve, can’t earn, but may freely receive if we repent and follow Him.
God offers change through means far greater than resolutions. Of course, not all resolutions are bad but following them religiously places the burden on self and will only leave us frustrated when we fall short of our own standards. We have been given a standard in the Word of God and Jesus is the only One who could fulfill it.
I’ve never been a fan of picking a “word” for the year, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Jesus—the Word who took on flesh and the only way to salvation—is the only “word” I need for this year and every year to come. In Jesus, I live and move and have my being (Acts 16:28). Apart from Jesus, I am nothing (John 15:5.) He gave me salvation, maintains my salvation eternally, and secures my spiritual inheritance so that I can live as God calls me to because of my union with Him. Every resolution finds its solution in Christ!