For a substantial portion of the population, New Year’s resolutions are a part of facing January 1st. The idea of setting a resolution is forward-looking, establishing goals or objectives that will hopefully be met by making changes in our habits and behaviors. However, to make a resolution, there has to be a backwards-looking component as well, because there has to be a recognition of the need to make a change, and at least a rudimentary understanding of behaviors that have gotten us to the point where we feel like we should change.
New Year’s resolutions don’t have a very high success rate. People who embark on their resolutions by relying on their own strength frequently find themselves falling back into their old habits within a few months. However, the odds of success increase when the people who have made resolutions involve others in the process of changing their habits. Accountability partners, physical trainers, and financial advisors provide regular encouragement and can walk alongside you, allowing you to draw from their strength when you are feeling susceptible to weakness.
In some ways, this can be likened to the idea of repentance. While the word “repent” is used almost exclusively in a religious setting, it involves simultaneously turning away from something and turning towards something else. More specifically, from a Biblical perspective, it means turning towards God while turning away from behaviors that are sinful and dishonor Him. Yet a quick look at the lives of many people who would identify themselves as Christians would suggest that their efforts to repent have been perhaps even less successful than so many New Year’s resolutions.
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” When you put your trust in a physical trainer to get you into shape, you trust that person enough to obey what they tell you to do. Jesus says in John’s Gospel that if you love him, you should keep his commands. Yet Jesus then says that he will send an advocate to live with you forever, the Spirit of Truth who will abide in you and help you to live a life in obedience to Him. In other words, Jesus knows that we cannot truly repent and change our behavior without his help, so he offers to send as our own personal trainer the Holy Spirit to live in us, encouraging us daily to keep focused on God instead of ourselves.
If our hopes for 2022 include making changes to our behavior, whether it be something dealing with our physical health, our financial health, or even our spiritual health, we need to avoid the approach that causes us to lean on our own understanding. If it was as simple as that, we wouldn’t find ourselves in a position of needing to make some changes. Instead, put your trust in those who can help you navigate towards your objectives. There are no guarantees that it will be easy, but with God, all things are possible.
Peace and blessings for the New Year – Pastor Aaron