Why Resolutions Fail...

Have you made resolutions in the past and then by February you’ve already broken said resolution? I know I have! Why are we so drawn to change any way? I believe God ingrained the desire to change, the desire to be better, even the desire to be godlier, deep in our souls. It’s part of what draws us to him, to his miraculous transforming power. So when I am drawn to God he will begin to change me as he desires! And believe me, he does change you! His word says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5.17, emphasis added) So then why do resolutions fail? I can think of a few reasons:

1. After years of attempting to change my own life, I realized that I don’t have that power in and of myself! (No brainer, right.) I have to allow God to transform me a little at a time. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Rom. 7.18)

2. The new does not fit into the old container. This principle is a little harder to see but it is none the less biblical. The godly lifestyle I desire cannot and will not fit into my old sinful lifestyle. I must get rid of all those things God reveals to me that do not fit into his ways. “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” (Luke 5.37-38)

3. Relationship with my Creator is another vital key. God transforms me by renewing my mind through his word and through his Spirit, as I offer him everything I am and everything I hope to be. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12.1-2)

God’s mercies are new everyday not just every year. And he has made the ultimate resolution! He has determined, or resolved, to “make all things new!” (Rev. 21.1-6) He is at this moment making you new, making me new. It’s a process but it’s already done in his sight. Read the context of this passage, Christ is speaking from the throne in the New Jerusalem! He’s completed everything. Now, that’s a resolution I can get behind. Amen.