The Disappointment of Broken Resolutions
Imagine this: You wake up on New Year’s morning to a fresh start. The dirty dishes you left in the sink the night before are clean and put away. The fridge door is sparkling clean, the sticky fingerprints nowhere to be seen. Holiday pounds have melted from your toned and fit body, and the wide-screen TV you’ve been struggling to save for stands proudly in the living room. Tada! What a wonderful fantasy! And, although we may not expect it to happen, we often wake up on New Year’s Day expecting that we will be more motivated to exercise, prepare meals from scratch and never miss a day on our Bible reading plan.
If you are anything like me, you went to bed at the end of last year with a heart full of hope for the new you the new year would bring. And now, here in the middle of February, all your hopes of a new beginning are lying with the rubble of last year’s good intentions. If you feel disappointed, you’re not alone. I’m right there with you, my friend. I take great comfort from the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:18–19 (NIV): For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Can you relate?
There have been seasons in my life when I’ve just wanted to give up. I told myself I needed to be content with the person I was because it was too hard to change. I will always be inconsistent with my Bible reading. I will always be unfit. I will always be messy and always be working on writing deadlines at the last minute. And the list went on. But God continued to challenge my thinking. God wants me to continue to grow in maturity and holiness. God can give me the strength to persevere through the challenge of new habits and continual improvements. But God doesn’t rely on the ticking over of a new year on the calendar. Rather, every single day is a new beginning with Him.
Lamentations 3:22–23 reminds us, Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
God’s mercies are new every single morning. We don’t need to wait for another New Year to enjoy a fresh start and a new beginning. God gives us one every single day. God has proved Himself so faithful. Although I don’t wake up a new person each New Year’s Day and fail at my goals for the new year every single year, I can look back over time and see how God has slowly transformed my life. I’m not perfect, but I have come a long way. There are areas of my life that used to be a major struggle that now come easily. I have learned new skills. There are relationships I have had to work on over many years that are now thriving. I have grown, I have matured, and I know God hasn’t finished with me yet. The fingerprints may still be on the fridge, and I may have missed my Bible reading yesterday, but God continues to do good work in me, even in February. Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
Friends, do not be discouraged or disappointed with your imperfect life. Do not give up on the journey to grow in holiness, hand in hand with our kind Savior, one day at a time.
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