By Glen Bowman, Minister at 3rd & Kilgore Church of Christ

For many, New Year’s Day is seen as a fresh start. It’s a chance to start goals and make resolutions to improve in different areas of life. God even set up a calendar based on an annual cycle (Exodus 12:1-2), so He seems to endorse counting years and the idea of new years. Should we make New Year’s resolutions though? Should we make a big deal about the new year overall?

First, God doesn’t seem to make New Year’s resolutions, because in His nature He doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6). However, God does do new things all the time, as is obvious throughout the Bible. This is emphasized in Isaiah 43:18-19a, where He says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing.” Overall, He wants us not to hold on to the past and focus on doing better (Philippians 3:12-14). 

Also, as we all probably know, our “good” New Year’s resolutions aren’t typically kept for the whole year. In fact, sometimes they’re shattered in the first couple weeks! I used to go to the gym, and it wasn’t as enjoyable to go in January because of the crowds of people trying to keep their New Year’s resolutions of getting in shape. However, by mid-February, things were pretty much back to normal! So how should we look at making positive changes for the new year or otherwise?

Foremost, we have to accept that God is in control, and we are not (James 4:13-15). In Proverbs 16:9, it says that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” It’s therefore human nature to plan for the future, but we must be willing to let God change our plans. His ways and thoughts are far greater than ours (Isaiah 55:8, 9) and we should trust that He knows what’s best (Proverbs 3:5, 6).

Overall, our resolutions should stem from our position in Christ. Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 by saying that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, new things have come.” The NKJV says that “all things have become new.” Because we are a new creation in Christ, we should strive to follow Him always, even if that involves suffering (1 John 2:6; 1 Peter 2:21). Our resolutions, therefore, should center around abiding as this new godlycreation (Romans 12:1, 2).

Apparently, this isn’t a one-time deal, but a continual resolving to be renewed. Ephesians 4:22-24 says that “you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” This was written to Christians, so apparently there’s a repeated process of taking off the old, dirty clothes and clothing ourselves in righteousness. We probably need to change our clothes more than once a year!

Lamentations 3:40 says to “test and examine our ways, andreturn to the Lord.” Since New Year’s resolutions are difficult to keep, maybe we should do this daily and not wait until 2022. We can still make various resolutions and even start on January 1st, but all our goals should be centered in this thought: “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Let’s prayerfully change for good, maybe starting right now instead of next year!