Resolve to Dissolve

No where in the Bible does it say anything about making New Year's resolutions.  In fact, the celebration of the new year wasn't really much at all in scripture.  The stories and remembrances of events past--especially when they told of the miraculous things God did--were the hallmarks of all important festivals and celebrations.

Thus, the act of making resolutions is often scoffed at or looked down upon.  Many say, "that's the world's way of lifting up self-improvement as the primary path to a better life."  I agree to some degree that it's true.  We often do find ourselves stuck in the ruts of trying to make ourselves better and professing that this year is going to be different, truly believing that the keys to a good life are in our hands.  If God is truly the source of life and our gifts, then it really isn't helpful that we try so hard to be our own source of growth and change.

But, on the other hand, I do think that God intended us to have times and seasons of renewal, of restarting, of setting things in a new direction.  While most of the Jewish festivals are created on the belief that celebrating them helped the religious community remember, keep in touch with their story and their God, and rekindle gratitude, more so than they were to created to change lives and make things different, there are several other events that lead us to understand that renewal is still a sacred and celebratory event in our religious lives.  We need look no further than the baptism of repentance, the practice of communion, the year of jubilee, the birth of a savior, Pentecost, etc.  Things are supposed to be be new within each of these.

So, I say, "go ahead."  Make your resolution, just as you will every year, and perhaps have in the past.  But maybe not quite in the same way as previously.  Lay the self-help, self-improvement, new-you goals aside.  Let God take care of those.  And instead, take up the celebration of the new year as a remembrance and retelling of how God has renewed the earth and God's people over the course of time.  Let it be a time of getting back in touch with what God can do.  Let it be a time of gratitude.

And then, after you have reunited with the source of all goodness, change, growth, and improvement, when you go to set your resolution, let it be to draw nearer to God:  to God's sovereignty, to God's working, to God's miracles, to God's continual love and grace that will ultimately heal, restore joy, lessen your need, and propel you forward into the life and tasks that He is willing desiring you to do.

Dissolve your inclinations to do it on your own, and resolve to draw nearer to the one who can truly do it!


More to come!

Jason <><