Let’s face it, New Year’s resolutions were made to be broken. By making them, we’re acknowledging that our will has not been strong enough to persevere in past years—and yet we are often relying upon that same will to carry us again! Despite our best efforts, strength is not found in our own power, but in the grace of our God. So if you’re tired of making futile resolutions, here are a few that rely upon God’s strength rather than your own:
1. Resolve to faithfully sit under the preaching of God’s word.
It’s not a huge ask. Sure, it might feel a bit easier to have nothing to do on a Sunday before another work week begins, but we’re talking about the spiritual refreshment of your soul. Every day of the week, Satan is preaching a sermon to you, and the three main points all draw upon your sin and conclude in your death. Who can speak against such a sermon? How can we resist?
When we gather with God’s people on the Lord’s Day, we do so with eager expectation that Jesus, our Lord and our Savior, will gather us to himself and remind us who we are. This is not a chore! It’s a relief and a delight. The truths that we hear from the pulpit are what enable us to get out of bed in the morning and to rest in peace at night.
If you never go to church, resolve to start regularly attending. If you go on occasion, resolve to be more consistent. If you sense in your soul that you need more of Jesus, go to where he has promised to meet you. Seek out the preaching of God’s word and rest there as much as you can.
2. Resolve to widen your heart to God’s people.
The Lord Jesus did not come to save us as individuals but as a family. This wilderness world can be quite lonely for those who believe in Jesus. When we gather with God’s people, we find fellow sinner-sufferers who are crying out for and relying upon the same Jesus who is our only comfort.
But we are naturally loners. There is no one—not even one—who naturally becomes vulnerable in a world full of hurt. In order to entrust our hearts to God’s people, we must first entrust our hearts to the one who redeemed us all. Entrusted to Christ, we recognize that we need our brothers and sisters. We need them to convict us of our sin and comfort us with the news that our trespasses are nailed to the cross.
It's not enough to attend a church. Resolve this year to join in fellowship with God’s people. Commit to a small group or some other form of church fellowship that requires you to love and be loved rather than live in isolation. When you are stiff-arming the Lord, it’s your brothers and sisters who will help you lower your hand and listen to your God.
3. Resolve to regularly relate with God through meditating on his word.
This is the most proactive part of all the so-called “resolutions.” We sit under the preaching of the word so that we can hear from Jesus. We gather with God’s people so that the truths of the word can be regularly reinforced in our hearts. Finally, after being strengthened by Christ Jesus through his people, we seek more of him through his word and through prayer.
In a sense, this is what meditating upon the Lord is (Josh. 1:8). With a spirit of prayerfulness before our God, we read his word and lay it before him. We ask him about what we have learned—about his character and ours; about our dignity, our sin, and our hope. We ask about Jesus and how he has bridged the gap between us and God, what he is doing in us now, and our hope for the future.
When we meditate upon the word of God, every part of our lives comes under scrutiny. We lay ourselves before him as a petition because we know that he will conform us to his glory.
Whether or not you choose to make resolutions, remember that your calling this year is simple: Rely upon the God of grace through his means of grace. In the process, you will learn that his grace is sufficient, and by his grace alone, you will stand.
