More Than Resolutions

John 1: 1-18  

For many, the start of a New Year is a time for resolutions - persons of all walks of life indulge in the act of making New Year’s resolutions and many of those who say that they do not make such resolutions, would admit that they would pause to reflect on the year that has come to a close and to express some aspirations for the coming year. They would make some promise, at least to themselves, to do better, to work on those things that they have been putting off. They will endeavour to improve in various ways; they will try to set some course for the New Year. 

The interesting thing about New Year’s resolutions is that they are, with rare exceptions, always good. They are worthy goals, commendable aspirations.  They are the sort of things which, if they can be achieved, would make a tremendous difference to the persons who made them and to many others as well. They can transform lives and families.  

What a difference it would make if the many resolutions made to save more, to care more, to work better, to be healthier, to be kinder, to be more helpful, more generous, more involved, more loving, to spend more time with family, to be more dedicated to God, to learn some new skill, to read more - if all such wonderful resolutions were to be realized, what a difference it would make! 

But the reality is that while many resolutions are made, very few are kept. 

One article I read stated that of all the resolutions that are made, just about 1/5 will be kept three months after making them. It is because it is so difficult to keep the resolutions that many have given up on making them at all; they see it as setting themselves up for failure.  

The question then is: why is it so difficult to do those things that persons know are good and even necessary? Things that can only change their lives for the better?  

Why is it so difficult? 

There are many reasons for persons not keeping their New Year’s resolutions. There are work and family obligations that get in the way. Sometimes it’s inadequate planning, life changes or lack of support. Then there is the fact that many people set unrealistic goals and so become discouraged. 

But along with those reasons, there is still another; and that is the lack of capacity: they just don’t have what it takes.  

As Oscar Wilde, poet and playwright puts it: “Some resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account”.  

To resolve to do something is a good start, but that alone will not achieve much. It does not matter how strong your resolve is, and how good and necessary the thing is that you resolve to do, if you lack the capacity to do it, it would be like attempting to cash a cheque at a bank where you do not have an account: you will come away empty. And that is what many who make resolutions have discovered. 

That is a fact that applies not only to New Year’s resolutions, but to everything that we set out to do; everything that we aspire to achieve, every goal that we seek to attain.  If we lack the capacity, if we don’t have what it takes, our resolutions and good intentions would produce little. 

What then? Do we give up? Do we cease to aspire to do better and to be better?  

Should we accept our situations as irredeemable? Is our resolve to achieve something - to change - to do better, an act of futility that it will do us best to just abandon? Should we just give in to the belief that “it is what it is” and that will not change? 

I believe that there is within each of us a longing to realize our true selves, to reach our full potentials. We are all still seeking, still hoping for the best. The good news is that there is a path that leads to our better selves and to greater fulfillment.  

We have just celebrated Christmas, and I hope we that we were all able to meaningfully celebrating with our loved ones as best as we could.  But for many it is now time to put away the decorations, and to hold on to the memories until next December, when we relive the story again. 

But Christmas is not meant to be just an event to celebrate; it is meant to be a reality that we live. The sense of awe and amazement, the feeling of hope and joy, of purpose and fulfillment - that overwhelming confidence that all things are possible - all those things that were shared when Christ was born; were not meant only for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men; they were meant to be experienced by all of us each day. 

When the gift that was given to all of humanity - Jesus the Christ, is received and embraced, he gives us the power to change, and the ability to become better than we are. As John writes in the gospel lesson that was read today: He (that is Jesus) came unto his own and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God. 

To all who accept him as saviour and friend, to all who believe in what he stands for, and lives by what he teaches, to them he gives the power - the authority, the right, the legitimacy to become the children of God. 

Children are special; they are meant to be loved and cared for, guided and protected, enabled and encouraged, and that is what God does for us as God’s children. God’s intention for us is that all of us become what we were created to be - persons who reflect God’s image and likeness - persons who display the love and goodness, the strength and wholeness of God. 

Hence God is more than willing to work with us on those things that will make us better persons, which is what we desire for ourselves when we make our resolutions. But when we resolve to be that better person, that better church, depending entirely on ourselves - our strength and ability, it often is the case that we soon realize that we just do not have what it takes. We are trying to cash a check in a bank in which we did not have an account. 

But when, through Christ, we live in a right relationship with God, God gives us power to become what we can be. God empowers us to be better people – to be gentler and kinder, wiser, happier – to lead more productive and fulfilling lives.  

It’s not just about us resolving to be better, or to do better; it is about us consciously accepting the life that God offers us in Christ. It is about us being willing to let God fashion us as God’s people. 

A commitment to constant transformation requires us to live our lives attuned God’s ability and willingness to change us and steer us. And while New Year’s Day reminds us to reset out routines and refocus our lives, let us not forget that the miracles of new seasons and new healings and new beginnings are possible 365 days a year.  

In Christ, we have the power to become better than we are. Let us daily ask God to help us to be that better person we want to be and can become. Let us present ourselves to God in times of intentional connection through prayer, reading of scripture and quiet listening, so that God’s work of transformation can be done in our lives, and that 2021 will not only be a New Year, but a Renewing Year. 

Thanks be to God.