Making Resolutions
Making resolutions—is it something you do, dread, or avoid?
Are you motivated or panicked by the prospect of setting goals for 2021?
In light of last year, most would prefer just calling for a mulligan. How did we inherit the resolution habit?
Most ancient New Year’s celebrations were tied to sacrifices and promises made to pagan gods, such as in the Babylonian and Roman empires. Doesn’t this give Christians a reason to avoid making resolutions?
Actually, our current tradition follows the practice of the Colonial American Puritans. Instead of participation in wild pagan parties, Puritans were encouraged to make moral commitments for the upcoming year. In 1775, Methodist minister and founder John Wesley developed covenant renewal worship services for prayer and resolution making, held on New Year’s Eve or Day. Today, many churches continue the tradition of worship and Lord’s Supper opportunities on these two holidays.
Does goal-setting ensure motivation for completion?
Proverbs, the book of wisdom, encourages “the plans of a hard worker” (21:4), to “prepare” (24:7) and “commit your work to the Lord” (16:3).
We have the assurance God is with us.
Jesus talked to people about making a resolution to be his disciple. He compared this kind of commitment to building a tower: “Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost…? (Luke 14:28)
What might a believer’s resolutions involve?
For Christians, resolution making is not mere self-motivation or positive thinking. Because we have the privilege of being used for our Creator’s purposes, the Holy Spirit enables us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles..(so we can) run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
This passage prompts me to list my goal setting and persevering hindrances.
Time sensitivity road blocks: I forget, postpone or neglect making resolutions.
Distraction actions: My mind wanders or worries. It’s easier to busy myself doing things of minor importance, than to seriously pray and seek God’s will.
Pessimistic promptings: Dwelling on false starts, mistakes and failures in the past, I feel I’m condemned to repeat a negative pattern.
Yet, for these and any problems, I need to remember how God encourages his children to ask his help to “press on toward the goal…in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
Circumstances or excuses?
There are seasons in everyone’s life when a huge “I pledge in the New Year to….” list will not be manageable. Sleep deprived new parents, students preparing major assignments, care-givers of ill loved ones, and those in similar stressed circumstances need to postpone commitments they might otherwise make. Some hectic days a God blessed goal will be to just pause and breathe!
Making New Year’s resolutions is a worthy tradition, but it is not a command from the Bible. Even when we don’t define goals, we can have joyful confidence knowing, “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance” (Ephesians 2:10)
Isn’t it exciting to think what the Savior has planned for us to do in 2021?