Years ago, I gave up on the practice of making resolutions at the onset of the New Year. It was a wasted effort, a fruitless exercise that left me frustrated. By January 8, I would feel like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, “doing what I didn’t want and not doing what I did want.”
Why are resolutions so easy to idealize and so hard to materialize?
Resolutions don’t usually work because we seek strength to change where no strength is available. We can reach as deep as we wish inside ourselves and come up empty. We will not find the resources necessary to bring fundamental and necessary changes to our life. That is where secular humanism and the Christian faith part paths, never to meet or agree again. Paul says, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. You can’t get living water out of a dry well.
Resolutions don’t usually work because God’s plan for our life happens in small increments over long periods of time. I have enjoyed the great altar moments in my life when, in the highly charged atmosphere of a public gathering, I have made significant choices. However, the deeper, character-forming, nitty-gritty, transformational work has come cumulatively in little bits and pieces over time. It is not the big “Eureka” that brings change but the hundreds of little “Eurekas” along the way. God, the Master Artist, is not a street painter, creating pictures in 15 minutes. We are God’s workmanship, and a craftsman knows that quality work takes time. God is the best in the business.
Resolutions don’t usually work because they are trying to borrow time from an unknown future. None of us knows what 2023 will hold. That is likely a good thing. Jesus cautioned us to live in units of 24 hours and not beyond that.
God’s plan for our life is complete from His perspective. On the other hand, our knowledge of His plan is not revealed in yearly, monthly, or weekly segments but rather in daily bite-size pieces.
Every day is a new adventure, a new page in the novel. There are new colours to be added, new ways for our faith to be tested, new levels of grace to experience, and new depths of character to be forged.
I have chosen an alternative to resolutions. It is much more manageable and much less frustrating. My best move is to rise each morning in whatever year it may be as God gives me strength, settle my heart in His presence and present the raw material of my life to Him for that particular day. My prayer is simple, “Lord, please paint into the portrait of my life today whatever colours you wish. I trust you with the brush. Forgive me when I try to grab it back out of Your hand.”
Some of the colours He uses are dark. I don’t especially like them. I would rather He not use the colours of pain, loss, and disappointment. But knowing they are necessary, He sometimes does. Ultimately, they will add depth and beauty to the masterpiece.
The hymn writer asks a great rhetorical question: “All the way my Saviour leads me, what have I to ask beside?” Indeed, it is more than enough.
As this New Year advances, I declare over you with great conviction these words of Paul. “He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
Daily commitment. It’s a much easier way to live. I guess Jesus knew what He was talking about.
Al is an experienced pastor and counselor who works out of our ABNWT District Resource Centre in Edmonton as the Pastoral Care Coordinator. A pastor to the pastors, Al is a friend, mentor, and confidante to all.