Resolving Not to be Resolute About Resolutions

Well we made it! 2020 is upon us, a new decade and a fresh new outlook on life is on everyone’s minds. “New vision in 2020” will be the rage sermon title and variations on this theme will be clickbait headlines and vision graphics. One layer below this craze, however, is a timeless tradition of the New Years resolution; gym memberships will soar and financial gurus will get a boost to their email lists. Some-times you have to stop and wonder to yourself “what’s it all about, how did we get here?”. So, I want to examine this classic tradition and demystify the resolution, perhaps we can learn something even more about ourselves and of course give you a Biblical way to think about these traditions.

Celebrating a new year is a very old tradition. According to this article 4000 years ago Babylonians celebrated the new year with an 11 day festival that was observed in March. Egyptians in ancient times would use the Nile Rivers annual flood to mark the New Years holiday. The person who rang in the January New Years tradition was Roman emperor Julius Caesar. Janus was the Roman god of beginnings so January was deemed the beginning of the year, and, finally Pope Gregory XIII brought the January 1st new year back in vogue. Along with New Years celebrations the Babylonians also started the tradition of the resolution. They made promises to the gods trying to curry favor for the next year. An interesting aside was the number one resolution of the Babylonians: to get out of debt. The more things change the more they stay the same.

So we make resolutions to try and improve our lives and they usually involve our society’s image of living a great life. Losing weight, getting out of debt, and quit smoking and spending more time with our families are among the top resolutions. On its face these seem good and I would say they are, but what’s the reality? According to psychologist Joseph Luciani just 8 percent of people achieve their goals, so that is 92 percent of people who have failed. Imagine you are slightly depressed because of your weight or your lack of family engagement. You resolve to lose X amount of weight or do X amount of measurable engagement with your family. Then you miss your goals. Would you feel more or less depressed? Obviously more, so, more damage is being caused by these resolutions.

So, how do we make resolutions work for us? This is the billion dollar question, (no literally if you could answer this question you would be a billionaire), so this will be my feeble attempt to answer. First off, I want to dig deeper into who we are. Our lives and personalities are complex and varied, and anyone who says they have the right answer may be well meaning and even believe what they say but, no one has the right answer. We do have collective wisdom through out history to draw upon.

Before one tries to build a house he must first count up the cost. Take inventory of yourself and your situation. How did you get to your current situation, is it self inflicted or is it due to circumstances beyond your control? We have environmental pressures (nurture) that lead us to the life we currently live and we have inward pressures (nature) that bring us to this point. You need to honestly assess how you got to where you are and begin to determine how to fight against the battle at hand.

Perspective is key to success. I’m not sure if anyone famous or smart said this but I just did, and I may be one of the two. Often our failings have less to do with the reality of the situation and more to do with our mindset towards the situation. The classic glass half empty/full debate comes to mind. The difference between success and failure often depends on your thoughts. Two mantras that dominated my youth were “don’t worry be happy” and “hakuna matata”. Worry often causes us to fail, having a carefree attitude makes the journey possible in the first place.

As a follower of Christ we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. So, we have to orientate our mindsets to the real problems. So the problem isn’t the problem. The problem is how we feel about the problem to quote an old pirate movie. We have to change our perspective in order to defeat the problem or meet the goal. Look deeper, you’ll often find the problem of weight or debt is something internal that if properly submitted to the Holy Spirit you will find victory over it.

At the end of the day every day is a new chance to make a resolution so, let’s not resolve ourselves to be so resolute about the resolutions we make on January 1. Remember in Christ we die daily and go to the cross to be raised again to the newness of life. Any aspect of life can be nailed to the cross to be dealt with. Have a Happy New Year and May the Peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ which surpasses all understanding be with you everyday of this new year.