At this time of year, there is a cultural tradition that is so cemented into the American psyche that most of us don’t even think it through even as we are participating in it.

I am talking about the New Year’s resolution.

The process usually looks something like this: As the year comes to a close and Christmas and whatever over indulgence went along with that is behind us, we suddenly become overwhelmed with the desire to figure out what we don’t like about ourselves.

We then take a serious oath to radically change that by making a New Year’s resolution. This is often accompanied by listing rapid drastic changes we will make and dragging friends or family into promises of accountability that they desperately don’t want to make. Many times, this is followed by large expenditures of money to facilitate this bold new lifestyle.

By February, our newfound plan has crashed and burned, our accountability hostage has gone into hiding to avoid taking the blame and we spend the next couple months beating ourselves up for our latest failure until about April, when more important things, like how to spend our tax refund, come up.

This is the pattern in modern America, and if you do a web search of New Year’s resolutions, one of the primary responses you get is a United States federal government website with the list of life-changing commitments and a government-approved program to assist you in this quest.

We have a question, and it is not what is your New Year’s resolution, but rather should Christians make New Year’s resolutions?

Jesus taught as quoted in Matthew Chapter Five that we should not make bold promises with an oath and most of our experiences with oaths and resolutions would make it clear why he did. We simply do not keep many of them and that makes them a lie, which is a sin we didn’t need to commit. The Lord gives us this alternative in Matthew 5:37 where he says, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

These oaths and promises to change simply set us up to fail, and the Christian experience is about victory not defeat. In James 5:12 it says, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.” The Greek word translated judgment literally means hypocrisy, and anything that gives us an opportunity to look like a hypocrite to others hurts our witness to the lost.

So whether it is weight loss or a change in finances or whatever you hope to change this year, the best advice comes from Matthew 6:33 where Jesus promises this: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” If we seek God in prayer for what needs to be changed in our life, he will tell us what he wants to change and give us the power to have victory in doing it.

Shared with you by Rev. Jimi Kestin – Sr. Pastor at Solomon’s Porch