New Year’s Resolutions are a BAD IDEA for most Christians – Here’s Why

[0:00] have you ever made a New Year's resolution only to have it completely forgotten by the time February rolls around what if the secret to a truly transformative resolution isn't about the calendar year at all but about something much more profound and even Eternal today I want to talk to you about the concept of a new creation resolution and I want to explore how living as our future selves in Christ now can revolutionize our daily lives starting today rather than waiting for some arbitrary date on your calendar every single year millions of people around the globe make New Year's resolutions they promise to lose weight read more spend less money the list goes on but how many actually stick to these resolutions statistics show a pretty staggering drop off rate within just a few weeks before we even get to February why is that one key reason is that New

[0:50] Year's resolutions are arbitrary they often sort of stem from like a societal pressure or like an intrinsic guilt or even just some fleeting desire not from like a deeper spiritually motivated intrinsic motivation they're based on the idea that a new year magically provides a fresh start but does a change in the calendar really signify a new beginning or is it just some arbitrary marker now that's one reason but I think that there's an even more important reason why New Year's resolutions while well-intentioned really aren't the best way to enact lasting change in the life of a Christian and I'm actually going to unpack it with a bit of a personal story a few years back I set a New Year's resolution to read more I had just read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear which is actually the only like secular book that's in my institutional Church's

[1:38] like bookstore Library it's that highly regarded I still highly recommend the book but with a few caveat I made a plan I put a checklist in a really prominent place where it'd be really easy for me to see it every day I made it very easy to succeed and very hard to fail and very hard to fail two days in a row all of this is backed by science good human psychology all of this is a good idea and all of those things are are you know they still work they didn't really have the Firepower to carry me through on my own willpower alone fast forward a couple of weeks I have read 15 pages of one book missed a week in a row felt guilty about it and by the time February came around there was no habit built there was no resolution that I had consistently applied and it just didn't work that's what most New Year's resolutions look like for most people what I think was lacking and what I think is lacking in the idea of New

[2:24] Year's resolutions for a Christian specifically is that you're still trying to do something and to change by your own willpower there's no dependence on the spirit there's no willingness to humble yourself and ask God to help you it's just you doing it under your own steam so if I were to make a new creation resolution Instead This is what it would look like it would be based on my identity in Christ and who I will be in the new heavens and new earth that remade version of me won't struggle to read books and Paul says that I am that person now so my task is to First believe that that and then to live it out by the spirit and that's the core behind this idea of a new creation resolution it's not about an arbitrary goal or an arbitrary date it's about aligning our daily lives with our

[3:12] Eternal identity in Christ and who we are in him today it's a commitment to live today in some small way as we will in the new heavens and the new Earth embracing and embodying our true nature as children of God in his kingdom now in case you think I'm crazy Paul's letters are filled with insights about our Eternal identity he urges us to live now as we will in eternity this concept of living as a new creation isn't just a nice idea it's deeply rooted in scripture for example here in Colossians 3 he says since you have been raised with Christ set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God we've been over these verses a ton of times on my channel set your minds on things above not on Earthly things now that doesn't mean ignore things that are pertaining to

[4:00] your life as a physically embodied human in God's good world he goes on to clarify what he means by Earthly things in just a couple of verses but he says for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory put to death therefore whatever belongs to your Earthly nature these are the things Paul considers Earthly sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry because of these the wrath of God is com you used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived but now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these rage malice glander and filthy language from your lips do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed

[4:48] in knowledge in the image of its creator so what Paul is saying here is that you need to recognize you are already a new creature in Christ you've already been remade the seed of who you will be in the new heavens and the new Earth for eternity has already been planted today in the here and now this is a call to live today as we will in all eternity it's a call to embody the values and character of the kingdom of God right now in our current context and this kind of thinking should have profound implications for the way that we make change resolutions instead of an arbitrary goal we're called to make decisions that align with our Eternal identity in Christ grounding our actions and decisions and even our values in the reality of our Eternal Destiny as followers of Jesus now how do we put this into practice right how do we

[5:37] actually make and then keep New Creation resolutions first it starts with prayer and reflection we need to ask God to show us areas in our lives that are in need of transformation in light of our Eternal identity this could be in our personal lives our relationships our work our Community of Faith and even people outside of our community in fact I actually have 10 areas that I consistently keep track of to assess where I'm at when it comes to my own life as a as a follower of Jesus these are the 10 number one Spirit now I don't really make a distinction between my personal life and my spiritual life as though there's supposed to be any separation at all really for a a Christian all of life is spirit-driven everything that you do matters to God for me the discussion of spirit here is more about how I feel about the

[6:25] closeness and the intimacy of my own relationship with my father through Christ in the spirit keeping track of that is a good idea if you start to feel your spirit flagging like if you were to rate this on a scale of 1 to 10 and you're starting to get into like the six and five range then it's a good idea to do some things that are good for your soul get out in nature get out in creation take in some of the beauty of God's good World read good news obviously reading your Bible praying and all those things are helpful too but don't neglect the things that actually nourish and give life to your spirit in addition to those things because it's really easy for us to just make reading our Bible and praying something that we do that's wrote even though there's so much life to be found there but there are other ways for you to remember God's goodness and recognize God's goodness and his love towards you and sort of bask in that that's category number one Spirit number two is Mission which is

[7:12] really how well am I living out my mission as a restored and renewed human in God's kingdom if I have clarity about what I feel like I've been called to in this season of my life how well am I following through on that then I start to get into some relationship questions I look at my marriage that's really number three is marriage how well am I loving the person that God has given to me specifically to love as Christ loved the church the person with whom I am closest in the world how good a job am I doing the next one is family I have kiddos so the question is how well am I training them up in the way that they should go discipling them and and bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord how well am I doing that then it's really friends and others how well am I loving and one anothering the other people that make up the body of Christ with me me how well

[8:00] am I ministering to and showing Christ's love to those who I love and even my enemies who are in my circle of influence but haven't yet come into God's kingdom how well am I following Christ's command to love my neighbor as myself so so far we've got Spirit Mission marriage family and others then it kind of turns to me health is number six how am I taking care of this vessel this physically embodied nature that God has given to me and called good how well am I taking care of my own physical nature I personally have like H hypothyroid issues so how well am I managing those symptoms and doing what I need to do in order to have the energy to do what God's called me to do but this is also how are my eating habits how much sleep am I getting am I drinking enough water am I taking care of myself and that's extremely important from there the conversation turns to like my mental and emotional state

[8:47] that's number seven so how well am I maintaining a positive mindset not in some like Eastern mysticism The Power of Positive Thinking kind of a way but how consistently am I willing to trust God even in the midst of circumstances that look crazy how consistently do I have faith for good outcomes rather than fear for bad ones if things are good am I experiencing them as good things or do I feel like an ani and a malaise that's keeping me from feeling joy in that moment and if things are bad am I experiencing them as bad things or am I able to view them in light of the new creation and take them as challenges to sort of grow and develop rather than things to crush my spirit and drive me into the ground number is experiences am I experiencing the things that make for life and goodness and Beauty in this

[9:35] world that fill me with joy and wonder and excitement for God's New Creation that's coming am I enjoying good meals with people that I love am I enjoying good movies and video games and books and stories and things that fill my heart and my mind with Wonder and excitement about the day that God vanquishes evil forever am I getting out into the creation and enjoying the good and beautiful things in the world that God made am I enjoying late night conversations with coffee and open Bibles with friends of mine who want to pour into one another and live out the life of Christ's body together as a community those are all things that I consider good experiences for you it might be different and then numbers nine and 10 are my financial situation and my learning finances is simply how am I stewarding the resources that I have been given for the benefit of those that are in my care and for the benefit of

[10:22] those who have less than I do and then learning is really easy it's just am I growing in my knowledge and wisdom system which is accumulating information and then applying information in ways that are profitable for any of these other nine areas am I taking in new knowledge that I then put to work and you can sort of rate yourself right now if you would like on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of those areas and if you've got some that are lower than the others it might be a good time to just look at those things and ask God to give you Clarity and guidance on what you can do to improve that area of your life and then choose to live in the spirit in light of who you will be in the new creation where every one of of those categories is going to be a 10 out of 10 it becomes this is who you've made me to be how do I live in light of that now now maybe you don't like my list maybe you want to be all scripture all the time and I completely get that so maybe you could go for something like the

[11:10] fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5 love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control maybe you're flagging in one of those facets of the fruit of the spirit and you need to ask God to help you Shore up your joy in this coming year what does the joy of a person who lives in the New Creation look like and how can I drag some of that into my current circumstances and live that out today maybe I haven't been gentle with my wife or my kids what would it look like for the new creation version of me which is completely gentle to pull that lifestyle and that way of being into my relationships with my kids and how can I live that out the fact I am that person now in my daily reality with people I love whatever approach that you take the idea is that you're looking for areas in your life where you can make make

[11:59] agreements with the spirit that you want to submit yourself to his guidance and his power to live more as who you were made to be in Christ in that area of your life to live out your new creation identity in a more consistent way it's about small daily choices that reflect our Eternal identity openly inviting the spirit to continue the work that he has begun in us as we open ourselves up to being made more like Christ it still takes effort but you're not running on your own steam you're depending on God to empower and energize you and I found that that makes all the difference it takes away sort of the performance anxiety where I have to not break the chain I've got to consistantly do this and there's all this sort of anxious energy around doing the right thing 30 days in a row rather than living from the settled fact that I have been remade already and allowing that to naturally

[12:49] Sprout and Bloom in all kinds of interesting ways by cooperating with the spirit to to change me from the inside out so unlike New Year's resolutions which often start strong and then fade away away quickly New Creation resolutions are about ongoing transformation they're not tied to some date on the calendar but to our daily walk with Christ and this means that they're sustainable and they're impactful in the long term every day is an opportunity for you to live out your new creation identity this isn't a one-time decision in your own willpower at some random day of the year it's a continuous journey of being shaped and molded into the likeness of Christ which is both an incredible privilege and a profound responsibility as every aspect of Our Lives is an area where God's transformative work can occur now what makes New Creation resolutions truly

[13:36] powerful is their Eternal impact a New Year's resolution is going to focus on temporary gains losing a little bit of weight saving some money New Creation resolutions have an impact that's lasting Beyond even our lifetime they're really about building God's kingdom reflecting Christ's nature and love and living in a way that points other people to him it's about making choices that have eternal significance in your own life and even Eternal rewards for your faithfulness to God's calling and drawing in your life when we live as a new creation we're not just changing our lives we are participating in the transformation of the world around us anticipating that ultimate restoration of all things as described in Revelation 21 and 22 so I'm curious I would love to see some of your comments I would love to see where you feel the spirit leading

[14:24] you to partner with him in becoming more like your savior in the coming weeks months and years not just because January 1st is around the corner but really because you've come to recognize that the spirit is calling you to become who you already are in Christ so what is that area for you for me it weighs heavy on my heart to focus on my mission as a follower of Jesus there are some areas in my life where I've been getting bogged down by sad circumstances in our personal life and I've been allowing some really foolish and unwise decisions from people that I love to cloud my own own mission and my own responsibilities as a follower of Jesus because I'm so sad for the the poor choices of these other people that I love and that's taken me off of my mission so in terms of where I really need to shore things up I need to be working on what my

[15:12] father has for me to do and if you want to know how to serve your father with every second of your Waking Life I have a video right over here that's going to help you to put that into even more concrete terms and free yourself from the fear that you're not doing enough for God I hope you have an amazing New Year I hope you spend 2024 thinking about what it looks like to live as though you are the new creation version of yourself I'll be praying for you further up and further in