Should You Reconsider Your New Year’s Resolutions?

It’s a New Year and with it, comes well-intended resolutions. While resolutions can be great, we need to examine them and see if those resolutions—and the result of them—are glorifying God. A lot of people will set a resolution to lose weight or eat healthy/exercise more. On the surface, these aren’t bad things. In fact, God wants us to be healthy! Our bodies are temples, and we should glorify God with them (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). God has an amazing plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). We are called to do even greater works than Jesus, but if our bodies are sick/weak, they could prevent us from fulfilling God’s plan and reaching the people He needs us to minister to (John 14:12).

While we should take care of our earthly bodies, we will only be living in them for a short time (James 4:14). God doesn’t want us spending more time in the gym than with Him. He’s a jealous God and if we’re not careful, we can make things, like the gym, an idol (Exodus 34:14). Yes, the gym can be an idol. Your job can be an idol. Even your family can be an idol. Anything that pulls you away from Him can be an idol. We need to spend more time taking care of our spiritual bodies, which are eternal, than our earthly bodies, which are mere mortal and will pass away. How do we do that? By praying and staying in His Word.

God granted us freedom, but that doesn’t mean we should use that freedom to satisfy our sinful nature (Galatians 5:13). Sure, we can do whatever we please, but to what avail? How many people won’t be reached because of our disobedience or unwillingness to be used by God? As Christians, we’re called to a higher standard (Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 5:1-2). There is a bountiful harvest of lost souls that need to be reached (Matthew 9:37-38). Some of those souls could be your neighbors, coworkers, or even your family. Somebody is called to reach them. But if that somebody is too focused on fulfilling a New Year’s goal instead of accomplishing the plan God has for them, opportunities will be lost and so will souls. Join me in setting a resolution to bring as many people into God’s kingdom this year as possible!