Never Too Late to Resolve: A Christian Perspective on New Year’s Resolutions
The Reality of Modern Resolutions
The New Year has officially begun, and with a few weeks already behind us, it can feel surprisingly distant. Many start the year off strong with new resolutions they hope to keep through the year. After all, the best thing we do is change overnight, right? Not likely.
For Christians, New Year’s Resolutions often involve a firmer grasp of spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible reading, and attending church more frequently, and the list goes on. The desire to be holier is always a good thing, but it can be especially discouraging to your faith if you set out to do something like this and fail early on.
The reality for most is starting strong with these new resolutions, then losing steam, and by the second Friday in January (unofficially known as “Quitter’s Day”), most have abandoned their resolve altogether. Whether your goals are to be more fit, eat healthier, read the Bible, have less screen time, or any combination in between, there is a man worth studying for his resolutions.
A Better Model: Jonathan Edwards and Christian Discipline
Jonathan Edwards was a prominent preacher and theologian in The Great Awakening, America’s greatest revival. Famous for his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions also remain a part of his written legacy. At just 18, he began writing his life’s resolutions, and by the time he finished at 19, he had written down 70.
His resolutions reveal the heart of a young man who had a passion for God in the Latin sense of the word, and who was willing to suffer for Christ from an early age. His resolutions may seem worlds apart from the ones we make today; do not let that discourage you, but rather let it challenge you to resolve for things that last longer than a 30-minute run each day.
Then vs. Now: Why Our Resolutions Often Fail
It is obvious that the resolutions Edwards made in the mid-1700s are a far cry from those we make today. Resolutions today are treated more like hopeful wishes for the new year, which are great, but perhaps we make them too flippantly. Maybe the reason they fail is the lack of serious resolve like Edwards and others in his day would have had. But Edwards certainly had a grasp of the Bible, and a biblical view of resolutions is always helpful as we consider our future goals.
The Foundation of Edwards’ Resolutions: Prayer and Dependence
Before his list of resolutions, Edwards wrote a humbling prayer, which says, “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.”
How many of us have earnestly sought the Lord before writing our lists of resolutions? It probably occurs more seldom than it should, and why not consult God himself while we try to better ourselves in the new year?
What His Resolutions Reveal About His Heart
In his entire list of resolutions, Jonathan Edwards addresses several subjects, including how he treats others, how he manages his actions and time, and even how he treats food. One theme rings clear throughout his list: his utter devotion to ensure his life reflects that of Christ in all things, from dealing with sin to prayer, to reading Scripture, to eternity.
If you haven’t already, and you can bear to read Old English, read all 70 of Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions and see for yourself. The list is full of conviction and an earnest desire to please the Lord in one’s actions. If you read one you like, copy it down and read it over weekly, as Edwards would have done.
What Makes a Resolution Stick?
Regardless of whether you have kept your resolutions so far or not, let’s consider what makes a resolution stick for life. Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions have several principles that we can apply to our own.
Focus on the Real Resolution: To Glorify God
What kinds of things are you resolving to do? Fitness goals, healthy eating, new habits, new hobbies, and relationships are all the most popular resolutions, and these are all good things to resolve to do! But I believe Christians must approach resolutions a bit differently than the world, as we do everything else.
An old Christian teaching tool called The Westminster Catechism tells us that the primary purpose of man is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Look at your resolutions and ask yourself, “How can each of these be used to glorify God and enjoy Him?” As you review your goals for the year, this may help you reframe some, eliminate others, or add some that you didn't have before.
So if your goal is to run every day, do it to the glory of God! If you want to eat healthier or develop a healthy habit, glorify God in it! In Ephesians, Paul writes that we should serve “as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man” (Ephesians 6:6-7 ESV).
Pray Before Resolving
Remember Edwards’ prayer above? It was full of humility, recognized our human nature to fail, and placed God in His rightful position as the One who ordains all things and the One to be glorified in the resolution. Do not take prayer lightly.
If you made your resolutions without praying first, consider praying now over your list and seeking God’s will for each goal you have set.
Expect Sanctification, Not Perfection in the Christian Life
The Christian life is a process of gradually becoming more and more like Christ; this is called sanctification. Rest in the imperfections you will confront in yourself. There were surely days when Jonathan Edwards failed to keep a resolution. We are all human, we are all fallen, and even with the resolve that he had, there would have been times when that was not enough.
The only One who has never failed is Christ, and it’s on Him that we must lean if we are ever to keep any promises at all. A beautiful song to remind you of this truth is Yet Not I, But Through Christ in Me by CityAlight. On the days that you fail to keep your resolution, you can still glorify God. Keep Him at the center of everything you do, and the failures will vanish into His sea of grace.
Consider Eternity for Biblical Resolutions
At the end of the day, resolutions kept or failed, we are all one step closer to eternity. The idea of forever is daunting to some, and to others, it may be so hard to grasp that you just don’t think about it. But it is coming! Let this encourage you in your resolutions.
Christ has overcome the world; you can surely go on that run! He has defeated death, hell, and the grave; surely you can read a chapter of your Bible today! Keep the small things small, and the big things big. This perspective shift should help you do the things that truly matter without getting anxious about the things you need to skip that day.
The thing we may all need is a dose of eternity that flowed through Jonathan Edwards’ veins. Like the old hymn says, “and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” With eternity in mind, it will be far easier to make resolutions and keep the real resolution in mind: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!
It’s Never Too Late to Resolve
Before you give up everything you resolved to do because you missed a day or several, don’t! January 1 is not a magical day that solves everything you plan to do on it. In fact, it might be easier to start a resolution on any other day of the year! Why not start something new on February 1? Or in the middle of June?
No day holds special powers to help you do the things you resolve to do. And that’s a good thing. It means it’s never too late to set a new resolution. Who says you can’t keep a resolution by restarting it every week? Remember, we are all fallen creatures who are prone to wander. The problem is not that we fall, but that we get up when we do. Proverbs says that the righteous man falls seven times and rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Christian New Year’s resolutions are not about perfection, but about faithfulness; getting up again and again by the grace of God.
Don’t focus on the failures. Focus on the God who saves and calls you to follow Him! Remember to pray for His help, to glorify Him in all you do, to look to Christ today and for eternity, and to get up again and again. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23 NKJV).
