JAMYE DOERFLER | CONTRIBUTOR

Around New Year’s Day, there are two camps of people: those who make resolutions and those who don’t. According to a study on Forbes, most people feel “pressured” to make a New Year’s resolution, with women (64%) feeling more pressured than men (60%).

Making resolutions is far from a new phenomenon; we have at least one example of a famous Christian who was doing so before the founding of our country—Jonathan Edwards, Congregational revivalist preacher and theologian.

Edwards’ resolutions weren’t tied to a new year. Instead, he kept an ongoing list of ways he wanted to grow in self-control, charity, worship, and other topics. There were 70 in total. Here a few:

1. 7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
   8. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
   9. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it.
   10. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.

According to Pew Research, modern day Americans are far more likely to make resolutions concerning their health (exercise more, eat less), financial management (save more, spend less) and relationships.

And while we don’t know how Edwards felt he fared in keeping his own lofty list of resolutions, it’s well-documented that most people don’t keep the resolutions they make on New Year’s. Quitter’s Day—the second Friday in January—was even acknowledged in an Apple commercial, because, of course, the Apple product would help you to rise above the masses and be the one who actually keeps their resolution to exercise more.

Change is difficult! Any mature Christian can attest to fighting the same sinful tendencies throughout their life. How can we truly change when we want to?

The Fruit of the Spirit at Work in Us

While the Bible never specifically gives instructions about exercise, many of the common resolutions Americans make are in fact things Christians are instructed to have a godly perspective on, including taking care of the body we were given (1 Cor.), using our money wisely (1Tim. 6:17-19), and maintaining good relationships (Rom. 12:18).

By all means, if you have an area in your life where you are convicted to address a sinful pattern in order to honor God more in your body, finances, or relationships, then do set yourself goals and find some accountability to help you. It is a good thing to resolve to live in a way that pleases the Lord.

But also, consider this: many of the things we strive to improve are given to us by God in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).

Many New Year’s resolutions would fall under these virtues, particularly self-control. And as anyone who has dealt with a besetting sin in their life knows, self-control is not merely gained by promising yourself not to do it again. If only it was!

Even resolutions that are not created to correct a sin, but rather to strive towards the imitation of Christ (such as many in Edwards’ list) will likely fall under these virtues—because Jesus Christ and the Spirit are one, so the fruit that the Spirit produces must be also true of Christ.

So, it may help to consider our goals and resolutions not merely in terms of the outward behavior but also in inward growth of Christian maturity.

Nothing Will be Impossible with God

Growing in the fruit of the Spirit is not a function of grit. It is a function of surrender. It is the acknowledgement that we cannot simply “power through” our failings and turn them into virtues; we have to remain in Christ and receive power from Him.  As Jesus said: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

As Jonathan Edwards put it in Religious Affections:

“The branch is of the same nature with the stock and root, has the same sap, and bears the same sort of fruit. The members have the same kind of life with the head. It would be strange if Christians should not be of the same temper and spirit that Christ is of; when they are his flesh and his bone, yea, are one spirit, (1 Cor. 6:17); and live so, that it is not they that live, but Christ that lives in them.”

If you are starting the year—or any day!—with the intention of setting goals and addressing a sin in your life, or simply want to grow more Christlike, the power must come from the root of the vine: Jesus Christ, through His Spirit.

The more time you spend “abiding” in Christ, through Scripture, prayer, and worship, the more you will draw on His power to bear the fruit that will enable you to see both inward and outward maturity.

Remember, “apart from [God] we can do nothing” (John 15:5) and yet, with God, “nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37).

Photo by Alexa Williams on Unsplash