Re-Solution
If you want to increase your odds of making a successful change or improvement, do it in the firm form of a resolution.
I read about a study where people who expressed interest in changing a habit or problem in January were followed for six months in phone interviews. Roughly half the group attached a New Year’s resolution to the behavior change, and half did not. Six months later, 46 percent of resolvers were successful still, but only 4 percent of non-resolvers had maintained the behavior change.
Bottom line: if you want to increase your odds of making a successful change or improvement, do it in the firm form of a resolution. “I will …” Write it down. Tell a friend. Make a chart and use it as the wallpaper on your desktop. You’ll be ten times more likely to succeed if you do.
All right, so what about the rest of the people who didn’t make a resolution in time to ring in the new year? Or what about those 54 percent of resolvers who break their promise?
There is hope! It’s called re-solution.
Perhaps a story will help. A scout for the National Football League was watching a college team practice one day. A brute of a linebacker was eating a wide receiver for lunch. The wide receiver would catch a pass and BAM! The linebacker was right there in his face to smash tackle the smaller fella. The wide receiver would step out to block for a running play and CRUNCH! The linebacker ran right over him. Each time they’d meet the wide receiver would end up with a face mask full of grass. This continued for quite some time during practice until a friend of the NFL scout came by and guessed out loud that the scout was keeping an eye on the linebacker who kept knocking players down. “I was,” he replied, “but now I’m interested in that guy who keeps getting back up.”
There’s something to be said about second chances and persistence – getting knocked down but not staying down, and then trying again. If you’ve failed your New Year’s resolution why give up? God hasn’t given up on you. The Bible promises, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3).
Bruised ego? Smoldering outlook on life? “I will take hold of your hand,” God says (Isaiah 42:6).
The solution to letting go of a promise because of sinful weakness or laziness or messed up priorities is God’s forgiveness. And if you make the same sinful mistake again, well, the re-solution is God’s forgiveness. He pulls you back up like Jesus pulling Peter out of the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee, “Let’s try this again.”
So, if you haven’t kept your resolution, try again in the forgiven hope of the re-solution. If you haven’t made a resolution because you’re scared of making a commitment you may not be able to keep, look to God who will always be committed to loving you no matter how often you fall. He is your Savior and your strength.
PRAYER: Jesus, you are Lord of all including New Year’s resolutions. When I think too small, expand my hope. When I am too proud or complacent, disrupt my comfort zone. When I fail, hold me in your arms and never let me go. Give me courage to make promises and strength to keep them. And save me by grace when I do neither. Amen.