What is your Christ-centered New Year’s resolution? Do you know how to create a Christian New Year’s resolution that will upgrade your spiritual life and propel your relationship with God?
In this post, I will share 5 questions that can help with creating impactful New Year’s resolutions for Christians. New Year’s resolutions that will actually cultivate change and spiritual growth. So, without further ado, let’s go ahead and look at the list, and then we can dive into each question a little deeper.
5 questions to ask yourself that will help you create a meaningful Christ-centered New Year’s resolution:
- Where is your current relationship with God?
- Does your lifestyle point to Christ/Are you living a Christian life?
- Are you hearing from God?
- Do you feel His presence?
- Do you feel God working an internal change within you?
New Year’s Resolutions for Christians Should Look a Little Different
The new year is only a matter of weeks away. We’re coming to the end of what has been a very challenging year for the entire world. And it’s usually about this time that people start to reflect and start to plan for positive changes in the upcoming year.
Creating a New Year’s resolution is such a popular thing to do. And even though most of us seem to drop our New Year’s goals only weeks into the year, it’s still a nice idea to set goals that foster growth.
However, New Year’s resolutions for Christians might look a little different, or at least I hope they do. Because our resolutions and goals should include and invite God into the mix to help us succeed. As Christians, it’s important to create goals for the New Year that will bring us closer to God and bring glory to the Father. It’s fine to have health and fitness goals, financial goals, relationship goals, etc. But what’s so amazing is that if we choose to put God at the top and the center of all those goals, we are more likely to succeed because of Him.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Mathew 6:33
God can direct and guide us in our health and fitness journeys. He can teach us how to handle our finances, and He can help us with our relationships. But if He’s not in it, nothing we succeed at is long term.
Bad habits and patterns usually develop over many years. And no matter how many New Year’s resolutions we come up with year after year, a lot of times we continue to struggle with the same ole’ problems.
We search for solutions all over the place, forgetting that the ultimate solution is the Creator of all things good; the power Source of life. When we plug into the power Source, we are fueled and ready to take on the tasks of the day, the week, the year. But without the Source, we are weak and tired and it’s difficult to fight the temptations of the flesh and the enemy.
So, I challenge you to write an additional New Year’s resolution this year. A resolution that not only includes God but is all about God.
How to Write a New Year’s Resolution for Christians?
Writing a Christ-centered New Year’s resolution shouldn’t be super difficult or complicated (that’s where the questions come into play). It’s not about designing some complicated statement that either doesn’t mean anything, or that means too much and will leave you overwhelmed.
It’s simply about coming up with a resolution, a faith-based goal that will take you to the next spiritual level. A resolution that will skyrocket your spiritual walk, and help you fall more in love with Christ.
Your objective is simply to 1) Figure out what you need/want to work on spiritually, and 2) State how you plan to accomplish it.
As you’re reading through the questions and start to figure out your answers, it should start to become clearer. Your answers can help you figure out what to focus on spiritually in the new year.
Okay, let’s dive into the questions.
1. Where is your current relationship with God?
We need to be very honest with ourselves with this question. Ultimately, you know where your relationship is with God. You know if it’s practically nonexistent or if it needs a little more attention. Search your heart and truly investigate where you stand. Because as we know, scripture tells us that many will call out to God in the end, but He will turn many away because He did not know them.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have wenot prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 Andthen I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Mathew 7:22-23
In the new year, it’s time to turn up the heat. It’s time to get EXTRA serious about our faith. It’s time to get to know God and His ways. And if this is an area where you need growth, perhaps it’s a good idea to center your resolution around building your relationship with the Father.
2. Does your lifestyle point to Christ/Are you living a Christian life?
God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. In fact, He knows we cannot. And that’s why He sent Himself down in the flesh to die for the many sins we’d all inevitably commit.
However, we are still expected to repent and TRY to live righteously and to live in such a way that honors and glorifies God. So, the question becomes, are you trying?
What areas of Christian living do you need to improve? Does your prayer life need a boost? Do you need to take Bible study more seriously? Do you forget to make worship a part of your routine? When is the last time you fasted? Are you using grace as a license to sin? Can your friends and family tell that you’re a Christian by how you live and the decisions you make?
Really examine your life and see if there are any areas that need a little extra TLC as we go into the new year.
3. Are you hearing from God?
The Bible tells us that when Jesus died, the veil was split. We now have direct access to the Father. So you can go directly to God whenever you need to. And as a saved Christian, you have the gift of the Holy Spirit within you to strengthen you on your spiritual walk.
So, if you are not hearing from God at all, like ever, this could be a good area to focus on in the new year. Use the new year to figure out why you’re not hearing from Him. Or why you seem unable to recognize His voice in your life.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.
Mathew 27:51
4. Do you feel God’s presence?
Are you experiencing the presence and glory of God in your life?
For example, when you’re in prayer, or worship, do you feel the presence of God fill the space? Do you know what that feels like? Have you experienced His supreme peace in times of anxiety, or felt an overwhelming urge to pray or bow down in worship?
This year, 2020, is probably the first time I truly felt the unique presence of God. I’ve had moments where His glory would just hit me out of nowhere. I would be filled with an urgent desire to worship or pray. I would suddenly feel grieved in the spirit for all the lost souls, or God would literally show up through my words and have me speak a word that I knew didn’t come from my own thinking.
Oh, those moments are so precious. What an honor it is to experience His presence. I am obsessed with experiencing more of Him. But it was something that I asked for, prayed for, and something that I continue to work toward.
If you want to experience the unique, unmatched presence of the Holy Spirit, maybe your resolution should be centered around seeking this experience.
5. Do you feel God working an internal change within you?
Do you feel the old man inside of you dying and see a new you emerging? In other words, are you noticing changes in your desires, cravings, and interests? Are your wants starting to align more with the will of God?
Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24
When we truly let God in, He starts to do an internal work within us, and we start to notice changes. We start to have our eyes opened, and our hearts softened. Our perspectives begin to be challenged and we begin to see things in a brand new way. Are you noticing these things happen in your life?
If not, maybe next year you can focus on inviting and allowing God to do a new work in you and make in you a clean heart. To help you see as He sees and want what He wants. To help you fight off the fleshly desires that separate you from Him.
New Year’s resolutions for Christians Should Lead to Spiritual Growth
My hope is that by asking ourselves these questions, we will begin to identify the areas that God wants us to focus on. I encourage you to pray to God about these things and see what He lays on your heart. God knows exactly where we need growth in our lives.
The key is to land on a resolution that will foster spiritual growth. And what this world need going into the new year is serious Christians ready and willing to do God’s work on this earth. Reading more Christian books in the new year is a good resolution. But not if it’s just another task to check off your list and will not cultivate true growth.
I’ll end this post by sharing my own personal Christ-centered New Year’s resolution:
My 2021 Christ-centered New Year’s resolution is to hear from God more consistently by increasing and deepening my prayer and worship life.
Ultimately, whatever resolution we come up with should lead us closer to the Father. Let’s go into the new year with a Christ-centered goal that will help us upgrade our spiritual lives and bring us even closer to the Father.
What is your Christ-centered New Year’s resolution? Do you have more than one?
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