Resolutions: Failure and Success

An estimated 40% of Americans make New Year's resolutions. 25% fail the first week. By six months, fewer than half continue, and ultimately only 8% succeed. However, those who make resolutions are ten times more likely to achieve desired results over those who don't make resolutions (various sources, especially University of Scranton study).

While I found this data interesting, I related it mostly to spiritual resolutions. Whether at the beginning of the year or otherwise, many Christians determine to read their Bibles more, pray more, memorize verses, witness more, draw closer to God, and similar heart-felt desires. Many battle discouragement as they struggle to meet those goals. My pondering of this struggle prompted four conclusions.

First, it's good to have spiritual goals. Even worldly research reveals that someone who sets a goal is far more likely to succeed than one who doesn't create an objective. Christian growth doesn't happen by accident, nor is it achieved by some nebulous, mysterious power. Christians cannot be apathetic or content just to float along and hope (or assume) their level of Christianity is good enough.

Hannah promised that if God would give her a son, she would "give him to the LORD all the days of his life" (I Samuel 1:11). David resolved, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes" (Psalm 101:3). "Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank" (Daniel 1:8). Jonah determined, "I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay" (Jonah 2:9). Many Bible characters set goals of what they wanted to do or be for God.

Second, specific goals are not the ultimate end. Christians and non-Christians alike have been disillusioned or alienated by a strict emphasis on required objectives. Actions and accomplishments have been wrongly promoted as definitive evidences of godliness. Reading through the Bible in six months doesn't automatically indicate greater spirituality than doing so in a year. Passing out twenty tracts a week doesn't necessarily guarantee spiritual depth. Memorizing hundreds of verses is not an assurance of godliness.

While specific goals like these may be helpful, they should be acknowledged as tools for reaching a greater goal. The Christian's ultimate goal is "that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (I Peter 4:11). "Whatever, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31). A devoted Christian wants to "attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). Reading the Bible, memorizing verses, and so on cannot be viewed as the symbols of success; they must be kept in perspective. These individual objectives can be instrumental in achieving the ultimate goal of looking like Christ, but they cannot be established as reasons to glory in the achievement.

Third, failure is not permanent. New Year's resolutions can be very defeating, because they carry the requirement that someone begin a project on January 1 and continue with no lapses until December 31. That is tough to do. Although God calls His children to holiness, He knows that perfection will not happen until heaven. Furthermore, maturity is a process that will encounter disappointments along the way. The very ideas of growth and maturity assume that the ultimate product will not be reached until the end; the entire journey, therefore, will be marked by varying levels of imperfection. No one who fails has to wait until the next January to begin again. He can start over any time. Every failure can be followed by a fresh start, and each hiccup can lead to an opportunity to mature even more in the next attempt.

God is doing His work in believers, but it does not happen overnight. "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" (II Corinthians 3:18). "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day" (II Corinthians 4:16). "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).

Fourth, God's help is available. Most people view New Year's resolutions as exercises in self-determination. They decide to do something and then work to achieve it. And they fail more often than not. Especially when it comes to the spiritual arena, there are things that man cannot do on his own. No amount of determination or willpower will be enough. Spiritual maturity is a spiritual work accomplished by God. It is certainly God's desire for Christians to mature. When they ask for His help, therefore, He will give it. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

Interestingly, God knows the best methods. A person might think the method is to read His Bible in a year and memorize a verse per week. God might send a fiery trial that will accomplish far more. God answers the desire of the heart - to be like Christ - perhaps not by facilitating 100% success in the smaller objectives, but by sending the right input to advance the greater objective. "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:3-4).

Press forward with your goals, esteeming godly maturity as paramount to any specific objective, starting over when you fall, and relying on God's help and methods.