Sunday our Minister mentioned in his sermon, that we all make New Years resolutions and fail to keep them (or something similar to those words). My 6 year old daughter asked me later “Why do people make new years resolutions, and why do they not keep them? If they never keep them why do they still make them again?” This is a hard question to answer, and I said something like, “We all want to do better next year than we did this year, but we usually make a resolution that is hard to keep.”
My answer to her is true, but only part of the truth. I have been thinking about this the last couple of days, and am remembering some of my past resolutions– the ones that I never seem to keep.
1. loose weight
2. exercise every day
3. read the Bible every day
4. start eating healthy
5. set money aside for a rainy day
6. stay on schedule for school this year
7. keep my house clean, and uncluttered
Some of these are reoccurring themes (several in fact).
As Christians we need to look at why we make new years resolutions and why we don’t keep them. I think it comes down to– faith, and lack of faith– feuding with in us. We know that we are much less than we should be, and that with out the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ we would be lost and hopeless. We know that, as Christ lives in us, we should become more like Him daily. And yet we are always reminded of our failures, and all the ways we are not like Jesus at all. We know that He will help us to become more and more like Him as long as we put our trust in Him and keep trying. But we want to be better now!
While I believe we are all growing and striving to be faithful, we are still trying to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, to become the light that Jesus wants us to be. How many of us have actually put on a pair of boots and then tried to use the straps to pull ourselves up?
Can it be done? No!
It reminds me of a picture of my son when he was about 18 months old standing in the middle of the floor and trying to jump. He would squat down real low and bend his arms back as far as he could, then he would come up as fast as his little body could move and come up onto his tip toes, but his toes never left the ground. He worked very hard over and over and over, and for a long time it was the same outcome every time. He eventually did learn how to jump, but he has never been able to jump as high as he would like. We will never get very high off of the ground trying to pull ourselves up by our own power. We do however want to be better, stronger, and a brighter light than we currently are.
We have the faith to trust Him with our salvation, but day by day our faith is tested in ways we seldom notice.
Do we think of it as a test of faith when we look in the mirror and say, I must lose weight, this is not healthy for me. Do we pray for strength to resist temptation today or even right this minute? Mostly, I tend to say, “Oh, if only I had more will power I would not be so heavy and unhealthy.”
When we look at our house and it is not nearly as ordered as we would like, do we pray for strength and wisdom to know where to start working on it? Mostly I say, “Oh, I don’t have time to finish that now, I’ll work on it tomorrow.”
When we get off schedule do we pray for God to show us what He wants us to do and ask Him what is important? I tend to say, “Oh, we’ll have to make that up on a day I planned to for us to have off.” What if, the thing that got us off of schedule is what God knew we needed to work on today. (Character issues, family issues, cabin fever– to enjoy His creation on a beautiful day)
Why do we make New Years Resolutions? Because, we have faith that Jesus is making us into a new creation.
Why do we fail to keep them? The reason, is that we lack the faith in God to put our daily struggles under His control.
New Years Resolutions can be a good thing, as long as we acknowledge daily, that we need His help to do these things. Because, (lets be honest) if we could do it ourselves we would have already done it.
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