A New Year's Resolution for a happier new you

Every year on December 31st at exactly 12 o'clock midnight fireworks light up the night sky, champagne corks pop, horns and whistles blow, hugs and kisses are exchanged and well wishes for a Happy New Year greet  people all over the world. Most people view this annual end of the year ritual as a chance to start the new year with a clean slate.

Habitually, some people make New Year's resolutions, but I wonder how many of  these  resolutions are actually holdovers from previous failed attempts? We tend to regurgitate the same resolutions year to year hoping for a different result. According to Clinical Psychologist John Norcross: 

New York, New York

Approximately 50 percent of the population makes resolutions each New Year. Among the top resolutions are weight loss, exercise, stopping smoking, better money management and debt reduction.

Berlin, Germany

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sound familiar?  Millions of people are stuck in this perennial revolving door of making new year resolutions, only to break them days, weeks or months down the road; and revert to the same old way of doing things, to the same habits they promised to change. Let's be honest. Our  human efforts at self-improvement are at best superficial, external, and also destined to fail every time. Psychology professor Timothy Pychyl says that resolutions are nothing more than a form of cultural procrastination :

[In] an effort to reinvent oneself, people make resolutions as a way of motivating themselves. People [really] aren't ready to change their habits, particularly bad habits, and that accounts for the high failure rate.

Then, there are those who believe in willpower (how's that been working for you?). If willpower alone were all one needs most people would have succeeded with that first diet or the first time they tried to stop smoking, drinking, using drugs or whatever else they tried to will themselves to stop doing. Face it, a resolution by itself has no power, according to author S. Michael Houdmann: 

Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity. 

For a resolution to succeed, however, it will  take more than proper motivation. Once you decide you want to make a change— you might make a specific plan, take specific steps, get organized, carve out time, seek peer or professional support but unless you have spiritual resolve you will fail.

A changed life

Spiritual resolve acknowledges that we are creatures created by a loving God for a purpose. As such, we are ultimately accountable to our Creator. Spiritual resolve must undergird any desire we have for a changed life.  Without spiritual resolve and God's help, our human efforts are nothing more than  a house built on sand.  The Bible explains it this way:

When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 TLB

Trust in God alone for the power to change  by surrendering your old life in exchange for a new life in Christ. You don't have to go it alone trying to make life work. You have a helper to guide you. And you won't have to wait until next December 31 at 12  midnight to take advantage of God's offer. You can begin your new life right now with your sins forgiven and a chance to start your life over. Wishing you a Happy New Year, and an even happier new you!