What’s the point in making New Year’s Resolutions? None of us starts out knowing that we’re not going to keep them, but we all accept that most of us won’t. Two weeks after the new year has begun we will be back to the same old way of life. So, again I ask, what’s the point in making New Year’s Resolutions. It’s not that I am against making resolutions, but I wonder why it’s so difficult to make these changes. In reflecting on that question I think I’ve found an answer. The reason New Years Resolutions are often ineffective is because sin and change are often far more complex than Resolutions suggest.
What is a resolution? It’s a wilful determination to do something different, to make a change. And of course that’s a good start to any change, but the reality is that change is more than just an act of the will. We all need proper motivation if we’re going to make real changes. Simply exerting our will won’t, in the end, get us up in the morning to go to the gym for that third straight week. Exertions of the will won’t keep us from eating those jelly filled donuts on Sunday morning. Exertions of the will won’t keep us off-line in the late evening when we’re bored. We need proper motivation, we need to replace bad habits with good habits, we need accountability and encouragement. We cannot expect simply to will change into reality. We are far more complex than a simple Resolution suggests.
Think of all the ways we excuse and justify our “bad habits.” Think of all the ways we justify surrender, or the ways we tolerate unfinished projects. Think of the means we use to escape hard work, discipline, and self-control. It doesn’t take much for some of us to give-up, give-in, and quit. And change is extremely hard. We all want to change, of course, but we want it to be quick and relatively painless. I see this all too often in counseling, and even more frequently in myself. If change comes with hard work and over a longer period of time than I want then it’s hard to stick it out. New Year’s Resolutions don’t tell me that, they don’t prepare me for the early morning work-outs, or late afternoon munchies. They don’t prepare me for the job searches, the headaches, and the disappointments. Nope they paint a picture of change that says “if you will it, it will happen.”
But why is change so difficult? Why can’t we just will our desires into reality? The truth is because of the complex nature of sin. We don’t just have bad habits, we have sin. Laziness, self-indulgence, a lack of self-control, etc. these are not just the character flaws we make them. They are sinful attitudes about ourselves and our world. They reflect a heart that is bent towards self-worship. That’s not to say that if I work out I am going to naturally be glorifying God. It’s just as easy to be idolatrous in the gym as it is on the couch. The point is rather that my attitudes can be drawing me towards the worship of my King, or indicating that I think I am king. Change is hard because it involves more than just what I do, it includes what I love.
Sin is complex and it manifests itself differently in each of us, and it has a way of justify itself and hiding out for long periods of time. New Years Resolutions simply aren’t capable of handling and addressing the complexities of my sin. So when I announce my plans for the new year, with all intention of fulfilling them, I am usually not considering all the difficulties involved in the changes I must make.
It’s not that I hate New Years Resolutions (more on that in the next couple of days). But a new year is not going to make a new me. Change requires the help of God’s Holy Spirit and a strategic plan of action to move forward. I can’t will myself into a new creation, but I can work and pray that desire into a reality as it accords with God’s plan. So make your resolutions, but seek real change through the Spirit of God.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 