What do you resolve to do this new year, differently than last year? Should Christians ask this question? Yes! For a Christian, we should expect change every year since our minds are being transformed to becoming more Christ-like. Let’s talk about some New Year Resolutions that matter to motivate ourselves to grow.
Good Resolutions
A good resolution for a Christian is to becoming more spiritually mature, and more like Christ, with more evidence of good works and fruits of the spirit. Other good resolutions may be freedom from an addiction, more frequent church attendance, more prayer and Bible reading, an improved marriage, and improved relationship with children. We will grow in the fruits of the Spirit as we grow spiritually, and these include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humbleness and self-control.
Ask Jesus for His virtues mentioned in James 3:17, including purity, peaceable, gentleness, approachable, fruitful, merciful, enduring and honesty. Doing the Word and doing good works in obedience to God are great resolutions. Faith without action is dead, so resolve to be an active Christian.
How to Change This Year
Will my 2024 simply be a replay of 2023? If we want to grow, something must go. We cannot defeat something we cannot name. Something must change. Our part in spiritual growth takes intention and commitment. We become whatever we are committed to. My commitments define me and my life. We need to know where we are now before we can move forward. Where am I now? What do the people around me say I am committed to? What do I talk about? Leisure, sports, worldly news? Or recovery, the Bible and Jesus?
God wants a primary place in my mind, conversations, web searches, and activities. God in my heart is great, but am I listening to Him? First be brutally honest with God and others, and let God change you. You must want to be healed. God will not change our life without changing us. Then you will hear God.
What if we don’t feel like changing?
When we are feeling low, God can use that to get us back. A storm can be God’s kindness to get our focus back on Him. In our weaknesses, God can make His strength perfect. Don’t let your weaknesses be tools for Satan but tools for God. Even if you don’t feel like doing anything, just worship and give everything, all of yourself, to God. Give Jesus all of your life, because He has already given all of His life for you.
Conclusion
In 2024, commit to inviting God into your life, welcoming Him, giving Him your attention, prayer and surrender. We were never designed to have strength, but to depend on Him. We need to be real and authentic. We need to forgive. Resolve in 2024 that you will decrease so God can increase.
