« Lessons in Teaching | Home | A Highlight From 2007 »
New Year’s Resolutions
By Jennifer McClure | December 30, 2007
New Year’s resolutions have never worked well for me. The few times I’ve declared any, those goals seemed doomed to fail by the end of February. So what’s your opinion of New Year’s resolutions? Are you a believer or a skeptic?
Though I’d have to say I’m a skeptic, I do appreciate the concept of a new year, a clean slate, a new start.
New beginnings, or the transitions into them, often lend themselves to seasons of reflection and goal setting, which of course are good things. It’s so easy just to ride the waves of our daily routines as they carry us into the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year, until years have simply been “ridden” without any significant amounts of purposeful, intentional action taken. Perhaps that’s due in part to our busy lifestyles, which our culture suggests we must have in order to be successful. Or maybe our tendency to be creatures of habit is what facilitates years of thoughtless repetitive routines.
Whatever the case, I am often guilty of just going through the motions of life with little thought of intentional action of eternal value. As I consider this, I am quickly reminded of 1 Corinthians 3:12-14, which predicts a time when our works will be tested to show what they really amount to.
Though we know our salvation is not earnable by works and is only made possible by faith through God’s grace, Scripture also tells us we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Joanna Weaver, author of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, called this the “holy tension of God’s Word.” (Look for my conversation with Joanna in the Feb. 24 issue of TPE.) Some may term it “holy balance.” Though salvation is not by works, God molds us to do good works once we’re saved. And though it’s by faith we’re saved and not by works, faith without works is dead (James 2:17-18). We’re saved by faith, and we’re saved for a purpose.
So rather than declaring a New Year’s resolution, I think it’s safe to say I pray my life this new year is filled with intentional, purposeful actions of eternal value.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Well said. This is something my husband has preached on many times and something we have found a lot of resistance to. Most people we have tried to share the truth, that you so eloquently expressed, with don’t want to hear about the works we were created to do. Most just want to hear about the grace of salvation.
Your blog is truly inspiring and encouraging and I second the motion that we need to strive to be His people living our lives with intentional, purposeful actions of eternal value.
You go girl!
Deb
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
You’re such an insightful girl
I agree that the idea of a fresh start with a new year seems refreshing…but why is it that we’ve become accustomed to the idea that we have to wait for a new year to have a fresh start? I’ve been determined to spend more time in the word and to get healthy….or healthier than i currently am! haha! =)
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I have 2 slogans for the coming year:
“Look great in ‘08″
“Find a mate (or get a date) in ‘08″
I’ll let you guess how serious each of those are.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Like most things dealing with opinion: It depends.
Making a New Year’s resolution is like setting goals. How serious are you about the goal? If it’s worth setting the goal, then it’s worth doing what it takes to get there. We may not reach 100%, but the effort will still improve our lives. Resolutions, like laws, are designed to be broken. I’ve only made one New Year’s resolution that I’ve kept - tithe 10%. I was only 13 at the time and “earning” one dollar per week allowance. That dime was easy to give, but I’ve maintained the habit for all these 48 years and it’s still easy (OK, some years were tough) to give back to God from the bounty with which He has blessed us.