Strains of the Season: Resolutions
At the start of each new year, I spend a day packing away our nativity set, Christmas tree, and evergreen wreath. I recycle the remains of wrapping paper and toss the leftovers from Christmas brunch. Wiping away the last of the glittery holiday dust, I place a new goal planner and colorful array of Sharpie pens on our kitchen table. I inhale the hopeful tranquility of a new year and begin drafting my new year’s resolutions.
Read my Bible before my children wake up, I write in red ink. Then in green: Go on a date with my husband each month. Try to share the gospel on playdates follows in blue ink. On I go until I have a colorful and ambitious list of goals for the new year. I place the goal planner next to my calendar on the kitchen counter—confident this will be the year. Yet despite my best intentions, many of these aspirations I concede by February. Some I surrender by July. Only a few I accomplish by December 31.
Most of my goals seek to encourage my growth in Christlikeness; they aren’t born of sinful desires or vanity. Yet I still experience shame in the areas where I fail and pride where I succeed. New year’s resolutions often heap on a heavy burden that Jesus never meant for me to carry.[1] Still, I’m exhorted to make every effort to grow in godly qualities.[2]
Every New Year’s Day, I wrestle with how my resolutions can point me back to Christ and not to my own efforts. I want to work hard in my roles as a woman, wife, and mother, while also resting in Christ’s finished work.
Created for perfection
Why are we drawn to new year’s resolutions in the first place? What pushes us to chase perfection in each area of our lives? This inherent longing for goodness was placed within us by our Creator. In Genesis, when God created us in his image, he designed us to reflect his holy character and continue his creative work on earth. He declared us “very good!” (Genesis 1:31).
Yet when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, sin marred their perfect image of God. They realized they were now imperfect and sought to hide their flaws and shame with fig leaves. In the same way, we often endeavor to cover our imperfections by setting goals, checking off lists, and pushing ourselves to regain the designation of “very good.” Yet while God created us for goodness, the presence of sin and the limitations of humanity constantly thwart our efforts.
Across all of time, men and women have striven to make themselves whole but to no avail. When Christ came, he lived the perfect life we could not live and died the death we deserved. When he rose from the dead, he saved us from our sin, healed our brokenness, and freed us from shame. “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). Because Christ has already made us perfect through his sacrifice, he redeems and empowers our efforts in sanctification—our daily growth in godliness. We are free now to pursue godly goals and resolutions without ultimately trusting in our own abilities to keep them—because only Christ makes us right before a holy God.
Pursuing the ultimate goal
We witness this mystery of Christ’s finished work and our own continued efforts in the life of Paul. He had religiously achieved every goal a devout Jew could set, but it was never enough. Yet when he came to know Christ, Paul counted all those insufficient gains as loss.[3] He surrendered his works, knowledge, and power he had won through his own efforts so that he might know Christ.[4] Rather than stop striving altogether, Paul continued to labor for the sake of the gospel, knowing that it was the Spirit of Christ powerfully working in him.[5]
Paul wrote, “Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12, CSB). Rather than lay aside his efforts to please God, Paul had a new redeemed resolve which empowered him to forget both his shameful failings and prideful accomplishments. Instead, he now pursued the ultimate goal: the call to know and be like Christ.
Like Paul, we can leave behind both the moments of self-condemning regrets and self-righteous success to pursue Christlikeness in our motherhood. Our primary aim is not a slimmer waistline, better behaved children, or a greater social media following. Instead, we “pursue as [our] goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, CSB). We set resolutions not to make much of ourselves, but to know Christ more.
Redeeming our resolutions
Because we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we don’t need to futilely cover ourselves in the fig leaves of our own efforts or frantically chase after the ideals of this world. We don’t need to feel shame when we don’t reach our pre-baby goal weight, make a home-cooked meal every night, or succeed in teaching our children good manners. Worldly measurements of motherhood success are meaningless when God measures us by the sufficiency of Christ.
Simultaneously, we can diligently pursue godliness, believing “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We can put limits on our social media consumption, set a budget with our husband, and choose a Bible reading plan for our family worship. We discipline ourselves in every area of life so we can walk in the good works God has prepared for us.[6]
Whatever we do at the start of a new year (whether we create a multi-page goal list or choose a word of the year), let’s “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). While we will never reach perfection on earth, we look forward to the day in heaven when we will be restored to the perfect, glorious image of God. There will be no need for new year’s resolutions in eternity, because we will at last see Christ fully and fully become like him.[8] Until then, I resolve to “do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good”[9]—and the good of my family.
[1] Matthew 11:28-30
[2] 2 Peter 1:5-7
[3] Philippians 3:5-7
[4] Philippians 3:7-8
[5] Colossians 1:29
[6] Ephesians 2:10
[8] 1 John 3:2
[9] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards
