Making New Year’s Resolutions Really Count
It’s 10:47am on New Year’s Eve and I can already detect the distinctive taste of failure in the air. Now, while one may think that such a lingering stench here in Iowa is a leftover from the Hawkeye football season (a good assumption really), the reason I smell failure in the air today is that as I write hundreds of thousands of New Years resolutions are being made that are pretty much doomed to fail from the start. Many people will resolve today to lose weight, stop an addiction, be a better husband/wife, or resolve to read the whole of scripture in 2013. Awesome goals to be sure, but sadly most are likely to fail. According to the Wall Street Journal this morning a University study showed that 60% of resolutions tend to fail within six months by people’s own admission, and it’s likely a good portion of the “successful” 40% simply had too much pride to admit their failure. This New Year’s I’ve really tried to think about why we fail at our New Year’s resolutions, especially the ones that involve our faith. Experience tells me that a significant number of failed resolutions are spiritual ones: reading through the Bible in a year, praying daily, being more regular in worship attendance, serving in a bigger way, actually tithing, etc. Hopefully the following thoughts will help you a) decide to make a specific commitment to God this year and b) help you to live it out the whole year through.
1. Form habits, not “resolutions”: Many people tend to view committing to regularly connect to God as they do diet plans. Most “diets” people go on are short term and focused on very rapid and dramtic results. While they do often tend to net people results they are almost always temporary, because once the diet ends they go back to the fatty foods, big portions, and other previous habits that made led them to needing to diet in the first place. Don’t make temporary resolutions with God. First, they will lead to failure down the road and second, I don’t think that’s what God wants or whats best for you.
2. Focus on the big picture: I think many normal resolutions fail because, frankly, people don’t really feel like its a big deal if they do fail. When we’re committing to creating and maintain spiritual habits (prayer life, scripture reading, committing to more actively serve, etc.) it should be a big deal. When you decide to form Godly habits you are committing to actively follow God and His commandments in a big way. Take the habit of daily scripture reading. Proverbs says this: be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.That’s no small potatoes! The big picture is you’re training yourself up to be a bigger, better, bolder disciple of Christ, that’s not something we should be willing to easily fail at.
3. Don’t tackle it alone: People I talk to who successfully develop spiritual habits like daily prayer and scripture reading more often then partner up with someone else. Often this is a family member, but it can also be a good friend. If you want to actually read the Bible daily this year then get someone else on board with you that can help encourage you and hold you accountable.
Andy's Ramblings 