Today is New Year’s Eve. Tonight, people all over the world will put on sparkly dresses to go out to fancy parties and clubs. Party City has probably already sold out of their stocks of confetti, blowers, and glittery glasses shaped like a large green “2008,” and why shouldn’t they – all are practically essential for a successful December 31 out. Across America, and particularly in New York City, there will be dancing, food, and ample supplies of champagne. Televisions will be tuned to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and, if we’re lucky, a guest appearance from Dick Clark. New Year’s Eve is the time – even for the staunchest of early birds and homebodies – to party with panache and send the old year out in style.
And then, with one tick of the clock, it will be New Year’s Day. For many people, New Year’s Eve continues on through a good three to five hours of the new year, but even still…when alarm clocks go off tomorrow, it’s not only a new day or a new month – it’s a new year. Tomorrow, people throughout the world will put away the sparkles, the confetti, and the champagne. Instead, on New Year’s Day, we will all focus on all college football, black-eyed peas and collard greens, and resolutions.
Resolutions. They’re funny, they’re absurd, they’re cliché, and, perhaps strangest of all, they’re the one constant year after year on January 1. Most people start plotting their resolutions in mid-December, when the pants first start getting a little tight and the craziness of the holiday season forces you to look ahead to some semblance of sanity in your future. Once people determine what their goals will be (eat less, run more, work less, pray more, shop less, give more), they circle a day on their new calendar, make a plan to start then, and then proceed to finish the year out Mardi Gras style…kind of a last hoorah before the more disciplined new year begins.
Despite my obvious cynicism toward New Year’s resolutions, I have several of my own. I’m going to eat better. I am going to start running and, believe it or not, attempt to train for a marathon in 2008. I’m also going to start saving more money, be better about returning phone calls, write more frequently, send more cards in the mail, and get to know my neighbors. Although I have not done any of these things well over the last few months, I am for some reason confident in my ability to turn over a new leaf tomorrow…just because it’s January 1.
But the odds are against me, right? Common understanding is that, well, people give up on their resolutions. Sure, we have every intention of keeping with our new goals, but the hard truth is that, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Prov 26:11). Bethany sent me a someecard that said, “Let’s resolve to repeat last year’s mistakes,” and, as tongue-and-cheek as it was meant to be, isn’t it the truth more often than not? We spend New Year’s thinking about how to learn from last year and make next year better, but after a few months, weeks, or even days, we head right back to the mistakes and follies of the past.
So how do I – how do we – make our resolutions for 2008 different? We all have them, whether they are on a handwritten list, Excel document, blog, or just floating around in our heads. How can we make our new goals for the year stick rather than simply resolving to “repeat last year’s mistakes?”
Colossians 1:27-29 states, “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” I believe that is the key…the holy grail of resolution-stick-to-it-iveness. On our own, we are hopeless. We will fail, time and time again, year after year. When we make resolutions using our own energy, we will continue to return to our past follies and mistakes, like a dog who cannot turn away from the very thing that has made it sick.
But Christ has promised that, as our hope of glory, He will work powerfully in us and give us the energy we need to accomplish all that he has set out for us to do. He desires to give us a rich, abundant, joyful life, which quite often requires a lot of work on our part. The beauty of the gospel, though, is that we don’t have to struggle with our own energy. If we try to change our habits and keep our resolutions with our own strength, we will fail. But when we look to Christ in us and resolve to struggle with his energy instead of our own, the potential for real, permanent life change begins.
So cheers to the 2008! May we be full of hope and power as we resolve to struggle through the New Year with an energy far greater than our own.
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