I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw the meme on Facebook. It was a picture of a Dairy Queen sign, and it read, “Ruining Your New Year’s Resolution Since 1962!” It’s that time of year again when we mortals, often foolishly, commit ourselves to a self-promise to be better or do better in some area in the coming year.

The ever-helpful Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines the word “resolution” as “the act or process of resolving: such as … the act of determining.” Similar is the definition of the word “resolve,” which is “to deal with successfully … clear up.”

The word “resolution” is not found in Scripture, so we need to be careful in our approach. There is, however, an illustration Jesus used that conveys the idea of making a “resolution.”

After warning His listeners about covetousness,

He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.“ (Luke 12:16-21, ESV)

When the rich man stated, "I will do this,” he was making a “resolution” to expand his farming operation so he could settle into a self-indulging lifestyle. God was not a part of his decision-making process or his future plans.

James warns us about making plans without considering God. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15, ESV)

So, what should the Christian’s approach be on making “resolutions” for the coming year? I think the Apostle Paul can help us with that:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:12-15, ESV)

I can say with confidence that none of us attained full Christian maturity last year. With that in mind, let us forget what is behind and “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That is a resolution that God will get behind and support.

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!