Are You Pro-New Year's Resolutions or Anti-New Year's Resolutions?
Making New Year's resolutions used to be a popular activity, but in recent years there seems to be a backlash against the practice.
Are you pro-New Year's resolutions or anti-New Year's resolutions?
Making New Year's resolutions used to be a popular activity, but in recent years there seems to be a backlash against the practice. I personally am someone who is prone to making resolutions and I think this has benefited my life tremendously. I make resolutions not just in the New Year but at any time during the year when I see in my life a practice or habit that requires either correction or fortification.
As a young man of 19, Jonathan Edwards famously wrote out 70 resolutions regarding his thoughts and habits for himself to adhere to and review regularly. You can read more about his resolutions here. The result was a man of bold and humble godliness who played a large part in one of the greatest revivals in history. Making resolutions can be a very good thing.
I do find that the end of one year and the beginning of another is a good time to review the resolutions I've made in the past and to make new ones for my future. I hope you’ll do the same, that you’ll resolve to engage in the most important practices this year and allow that engagement to squeeze out your engagement with less important practices. I’m always happy to recommend Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life. (Kindle | Paperback)
We don’t get a pass on these disciplines just because we’re pastors. I hope these disciplines will work their way into your daily life as ongoing habits for as long as you live because I am confident that these will lead you to greater spiritual health and an ongoing deepening of your relationship with God resulting in a corresponding increase in wisdom and discernment.
In making this plea, I'm not asking you to commit to anything I haven't also personally committed to. I have committed to these disciplines, don’t always fulfil my commitment, and have re-committed to them again. I am confident this will be your experience as well and I want to encourage you now to resolve to stand back up again whenever you fall.
This is not an attempt to bind your conscience or to get you to perform certain activities in a legalistic way. The purpose of encouraging these practices is to increase your awareness of God's grace and to give you the tools you need to access more of it.
To be clear: you do not HAVE TO do any of these. But as my friend, Paul Carter said last week in response to someone who was pushing back against the idea of making commitments to reading and other spiritual disciplines:
“The Bible does NOT say that you must read through the Bible in a year.
Nor does it say that you must eat healthy, go to the gym, read to your kids, schedule a date night with your wife or save 10% a year for your retirement.
Wise people however will do all of them.”
Grab a copy of Whitney’s book (Kindle | Paperback), read it slowly, and seek to shape a rhythm of life that will increase and deepen the intimacy of your relationship with God.
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Michael Krahn is a Pastor, the husband of Anne Marie, and the father of Madeleine, Olivia, and Sophia. Make a connection on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.