Resolution: (from Websters.com): “a resolve or determination, or to make a firm resolution to do something; the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.”

Funny, you’d really get a sense of personal power, wouldn’t you, in reading this definition? Like you could ‘determine a course of action, and then…. just do it.’ No offense, Nike, but if it were that easy we wouldn’t be awash in broken resolution jokes every January. My personal experience is that my willpower alone rarely brings me the success I desire. If so, I would have resolved twenty pounds away long ago.

But I love the idea of a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate. A record unmarred as yet by failure, disappointment, or unmet expectations. And I totally relate to the fresh hope we feel when facing that first clean page of the new calendar. My only hesitation to jump on the resolution bandwagon is the weakness built into it by definition. I know myself. I can ‘resolve or determine’ til the cows come home, but that twenty pounds ain’t budging until I call upon the Lord for His empowerment. Until the Lord joins me in my struggle, my efforts are often in vain. And I don’t think I’m alone in this dependency. In fact, I think it’s quite Biblical. It just might be the fatal flaw in the whole New Year’s resolution process.

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 15, 24, 25).

I’m not anti-resolution. I just believe that God intended for us to depend on Him for enabling strength. Built into our system is the capacity to be empowered by the Creator, when we call upon Him in faith. Many resolutions depend more on willpower than dependency, and I think that might explain the high failure rates we joke about.

I still want to drop those twenty pounds. In fact, it’s my New Year’s Prayer. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 am and is filed under Staff Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.