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Jan 02, 2024 06:00am

A Fresh Start

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A new year. A fresh start. Turning over a new leaf. So many of us look forward to better things to come as we turn that last calendar page over to reveal a clean slate. We long for better health, mended relationships, spiritual victories, and success in a myriad of other areas. To accomplish this, we make New Year’s resolutions and vow that this year will be different . . . better somehow. But should we even make New Year’s resolutions, and if so, how do we get them to stick?

First, we must admit that there is nothing sacred or holy about January 1. If we want change that badly, why wait? I typically do not make New Year’s resolutions because I believe that if there is something I want to change in my life, I can do it any of the other 364 days of the year.

Secondly, jumping on the resolution bandwagon doesn’t have a well-proven track record of success. I have made New Year’s resolutions in the past, such as losing X number of pounds or exercising more. Most of those goals only lasted till the end of January, if that! February failures seem to be a common theme for most people.

However, there is nothing wrong with wanting change for the better, and if January 1 seems like an appealing date for a fresh start, that’s okay—go for it.

No matter the date, how do we go about keeping the changes we desire to make? Too often, if you are like me, we set out with good intentions, but they don’t last.

Paul knew about this all too well in the realm of spiritual matters. Every time he tried to do good, he did the opposite:

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
(Romans 7:15–24)

Do you ever feel that way? That there is something that you want to do, but you keep doing the same old thing again? That you have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out? That you are captive to your old ways? I have certainly felt that way! Paul was so sick of his sin predicament that he shouts out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

You see, Paul knew that he could never do the good he wanted to do on his own because there was nothing good about his own person. He knew if he wanted to do the right thing, he needed someone to deliver him from himself. It is the same for us. We are all in bondage to our flesh and sin, and “there is none who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12). The wages we earn for our sin is death (Romans 3:23). That’s why Paul cried out, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

The answer to that question for Paul, and for all of us, is in verse 25:

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

(There should be 1,000 exclamation marks after that statement!)

Paul knew we all needed a Savior, a Rescuer, who could free us from the curse of our sin, and that Rescuer is the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

The first step to keeping a New Year’s resolution is acknowledging you are a sinner in bondage to your sin and that you cannot do anything good on your own. Then call out to the Rescuer to deliver you from your body of death.

The next steps, for any resolution, whether spiritual (reading your Bible more, praying more, memorizing more Scripture), physical (losing weight, exercising more, eating healthier), or fighting a bad habit or sin (quitting smoking, battling anger or lust or laziness) would be:

1. Seek the Lord first and prayerfully commit your ways to him.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act” (Psalms 37:4–5).

“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:6).

If you are delighting in God you will love the things he loves; your desires will be aligned with his will. That is when he gives you the desires of your heart; when they are his desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord, and he will act. Acknowledge him (seek him, ask him for his wisdom about every situation) and he will direct your paths.

2. Realize you cannot do this in your own strength but in his.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10).

We are called to be strong, but it is never a pull yourself up by your own bootstraps kind of strong. It is a strength that comes from total dependence on someone greater than us. (This is opposite to the world’s view of strength.) We are to be strong “in the Lord” and “in the strength of his might.”

3. Fully rely on God’s abounding grace.

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

In our flesh, we will fail at every good work, but God’s grace is able to make us abound in every good work.

4. When we fail, boast in our weaknesses.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Christ’s perfect power is displayed and glorified against the shredded backdrop of our weaknesses and failures. Don’t get discouraged or heap guilt on yourself when you mess up again, but rejoice that you are weak and your Savior is strong.

Happy New Year, and God bless you with his love, kindness, and grace this year!