New Year’s Resolutions are all the rage: both making them and breaking them. To resolve to do something is to firmly decide on a path or a course of action. I believe we should often have stake-in-the-ground moments as followers of Jesus; times in which the Holy Spirit leads us towards or away from something and we boldly declare: ‘there I will go’ or ‘there I will no longer go,’ so help me God. Have you made formal or informal resolutions before? If not - you must. For, as DA Carson said, "apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord." You do not need to make your resolutions at New Years, but it is as good a time as any!

How? Why?

I am unable to do anything without God's help, [thus] I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake. – Jonathan Edwards, 1716

Christ is at work in us to bring us towards completion (Phil. 1:6, 2:13). The Spirit indwells us as Christians to give life to our sinful nature such that the very Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead enables our obedience to Him (Rom. 8:9-11). When we become Christians, Christ lives in us to empower us to live as he lived. This is not to say that Jesus only cares about so-called "spiritual" resolutions. Rather, Jesus cares about our whole life and doing our whole life well is honoring to Christ. 

In Tim Chester's book You Can Change, he points out three false motivations for change: to prove yourself to other people, to prove yourself to God, and to prove yourself to yourself. Grace is opposed to earning, but not opposed to effort (Dallas Willard). Do not allow your resolutions to become attempts to gain approval or make yourself less dependent on God's grace. By the blood of Christ we can say, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Our debt is paid, we are loved by God, and he has affection for us just as we are: we cannot earn any more of God's approval. Yet, grace is not opposed to effort: we are still called, as God's children, to work at following him. We make resolutions not as people seeking to earn God's favor, but rather seeking to steward well our whole life, which fully belongs to him.

Resolve to Live

Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live. – Jonathan Edwards, 1716

"Time is a fixed-sum scarce resource that cannot be regained once spent" (Törnblom). Do not waste time! What does it look like to live with "all your might"? Jesus in John 10:10 said, "I came to give life" and the word "life" here can mean both life in the physical sense and also life in the transcendent sense (i.e. being fully alive). 

• Does your health allow you "fully live"? Are you free to do what you want to do physically? What about your health do you need to take control of? Does your diet need change? Do you need to exercise? Do you need to see a doctor? Do you need to listen to your doctor? Are you just existing or are you truly living?
• Sin takes away your life (John 10:10); sinning is not living. What sin have you been gentle with that you need to be harsh with? Have you developed any addictions?
• What makes you come fully alive? What is it you feel you are 'meant' to do? Stop not doing it!

Resolve to Love

Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it. – Jonathan Edwards, 1716

Are you satisfied with how deeply you love God? Are you satisfied with how much you love the people around you? The answer to both of those questions must always be "no". Paul's prayer for the Philippians must be our prayer for ourselves and all others, "it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more" (Phil. 1:9).

• Do you need to love your husband/wife/family more? What are those things that stir your affection for the key people that God has placed in your life? Resolve to keep a date night, resolve to keep your phone out of the bedroom, resolve to be present when you are at home.
• What are those things that stir your love of God? Resolve to do them. What are those things and/or who are those people that cause you to doubt either your love of God or God's love of you? 

Resolve to Listen

General [and broad] reading can enlarge [a Christian’s] sympathies for people and situations that she or he had previously known nothing about. – Cornelius Plantiga

Most of us do not really listen to others. We are quick to form opinions and quick to think we understand other people when in reality we are naive and do a poor job of empathizing. Instead of being slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19) we are slow to understand and quick to form and share opinions. We don't read articles we read headlines. We don't listen to whole speeches we listen to soundbites. We don't read books we read book reviews. In listening to others our first goal should be understanding not evaluation or correction. Plantiga's quote is not only true for reading, but true for all types of listening; doing it well can expand our sympathies. We have limited experience, but when we listen and read well we can enter into the experiences of others and grow in compassion. What if the church truly sought to understand those who were different from us? Are we a foolish people?

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. – Proverbs 18:2

• Are you informed by only one or a few news outlets? Resolve to read and watch more broadly. 
• Are you genuinely friends with those who are different from you ethnically, economically, culturally, spiritually, sexually, or politically? Resolve to make friends with people who are different than you. Listen to understand.
• Do you read? Resolve to learn about others. Do you not care? Resolve to care about others. Do you only regularly hear one perspective? Seek out more points of view. Are you quick to share and comment on social media without having thought through different perspectives? Resolve to be slow to speak. 

Resolve to Learn

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105

Are you satisfied with how well you know God? This answer must always be "no". Without the word of God, there is no light on your path. God Himself speaks to you in Scripture in order to shape you into who he wants you to be. We must steep ourselves in His word; you cannot be devoted to God without also being devoted to his word. 

• Have you read the whole scripture? Are you disciplined to be in the word? Resolve to stick to a bible reading plan in 2016.
• Do you read the word regularly in community? Take a friend on your journey through scripture with you. Resolve to be lead by great people of faith as you read; this year my wife and I will be lead by Tim Keller through the Psalms: The Songs of Jesus. Remember that Devotionals will never replace or be a substitute for reading God's word. Let using devotionals be supplemental to your own wrestling through scripture.
• Do you have a great difficulty understanding scripture? Resolve to press through anyway. Understanding will come over time! Make use of a good study bible.

Resolve to Lament

Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. – Joel 1:8

The world is full of brokenness, pain, systemic injustice, and evil of all kinds. We don't like to think about this, but we must. It is important for us to be a people of empathy and to pray emotionally and like we truly care about the hurting people all over the world. The title of the book of Lamentations in Hebrew is echah which could be translated "How!" or "Alas!" When we lament in prayer for the brokenness of the world our affections will be shaped according to God's heart for the lost and the broken. We must care about those who are suffering. We must let our hearts break for those who are lost and far from God. We must be motivated to act to end the systemic injustice locally and globally. Our hearts must break for what breaks the heart of God. Jesus "He saw the city and wept over it" (Luke 19:41) so we must also lament to God in prayer over all the brokenness that he allows us to see. 

• Where do you see brokenness? Resolve to pray every time you see it. 
• Resolve to pray through your twitter and facebook feed. People in our church and community are broken and need your prayers and empathy.
• Resolve to pray with your household regularly for the brokenness that is in the world. 
• Resolve to not let the death and destruction on the news cause you to fear, but rather cause you to pray.

Going Foward - The Plan

Write out a list of your resolutions. Refine your list; narrow it down. If you have never set resolutions before limit yourself to 5 - too many resolutions will just make it harder to keep track of. Your list could look like this: 1) Live - no more frozen pizzas; 2) Love - pray with my spouse every night without exceptions before bed; 3) Listen - befriend my Muslim neighbors and really seek to love them well and understand their heartbeat; 4) Learn - read the Psalms every day no exceptions; 5) Lament - watch the 5 o' clock news on Tuesdays, take notes, and pray vigorously for every hurting person or situation.

Jonathan Edwards, in making his list of resolutions, wrote a note to himself: "Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week." Why do people fail at their resolutions? Failing any given day or week is normal and understandable, but altogether failing to keep a resolution is the result of vision drift: you must keep the goals in front of you. Read them once a week. Write them on your mirror. Let people hold you accountable. 

We must live fully; we must love more deeply; we must listen more intently; we must learn from our God; we must lament the brokenness of the world. Resolve this year to grow in these things. Believe "I can, with God's help."