A new year is upon us. I don’t know about you, but I am the girl who has always been excited about a new year. For as long as I can remember, I have written out my New Year’s Resolutions, those goals that will enable me to be the person I want to be – more disciplined and consistent in my Scripture reading, in my eating and workout habits, in keeping my house organized and clean, etc. If you read about goal-setting, you will see that goals should be measurable, limited to a certain time, attainable, etc. With this in mind, I would write out my goals, hoping that this year, I would become the better me. I like checklists, so yes, you can picture me making a fresh checklist of habits I want to strengthen, just waiting to be marked off when accomplished. Had my quiet time today? Check. Spent time in prayer? Check. Got a workout in? Check. Organized a space in the house for 15 minutes? Check. (I know many of you cannot relate to this checking things off at all, while others of you know exactly what I’m talking about.) But here’s the thing: I would invariably fail, and for those of us who struggle with perfectionism, the tendency is that once you fail in one of the areas, why not just let the others go as well? Didn’t have my quiet time this morning? Well, since it’s not a perfect day, I might as well let the other areas go without checks as well. A checklist that was started enthusiastically, around day 10 gets abandoned.
Lest I sound all negative, there are times that those goals (and even checklists) were helpful. They kept me focused, gave a plan for the day, and helped me reflect on how I was spending my time. There were many occurrences where I met my goals – multiple years in which I read through the Bible in a year, for example. Setting the goal motivated me to complete it. But here’s what I noticed, and here’s why I’ll be doing it differently this year: There was often a subtle lie that I was believing that was behind these New Year’s Resolutions. “If only I do [fill in the blank], then I will be a better person.” Happier with myself, more confident, more in control. This is the self-help gospel – striving for a better self through my efforts, my goals, my checklists. Striving so I can be the super-Christian, wife, mom, and friend that I expect that I should be. And I run myself ragged and am still constantly discouraged because I am not who I want to be.
This is not the way of sanctification; rather than being God-centered, this striving is very self-centered. I am confident, however, that goals can be set with a very God-centered perspective. I think this is the person who lays out her goals before the Lord (first making sure that her motivation behind them is biblical and not self-centered) and then seeks to meet those goals out of a place of already standing in grace and acceptance before God rather than trying to find her joy and worth in her goal-keeping. For me, this year, I think the temptation is still too strong to set my hopes and my confidence on how well I’m meeting my goals. So, I will not write measurable, checklist type resolutions this year.
Instead, I have chosen an emphasis for this year that I want to focus on. This is not anything that I will be checking off a list, but it is what I hope will draw me to the truth that self-motivated striving is a dead end. It is based on what the Lord has been convicting me of and challenged me in recently. It is the idea of Rest. Quite the opposite of striving for a better self, right? Rest in the fact that I am God’s child and stand in Christ’s righteousness before Him, not on account of my works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rest in the belief that the things I regret about the past can be put aside, having been forgiven at the cross and are remembered no more (Hebrews 10:14-18). Rest, knowing that God is sovereign and holds me and those I love in His powerful hands, which means that our well-being does not lay on my shoulders (Isaiah 46:10; Ephesians 1:11). Rest, for my inheritance is certain and my future is secure, and these are not dependent on me (I Peter 1:3-5).
Do I still hope to have time in the Word and in prayer daily? You bet. Would I still like to keep my body active through exercise? Get my house more organized? Go to bed at a good time? Yes, yes, and yes. But when those things happen, I don’t want it to be out of a desire to feel better about myself or raise my sense of worth. As believers, our striving as we run the race God laid out for each of us, is done from a place of grace. It is when our eyes are fixed on Christ, not self, that the Holy Spirit enables us to do the work of setting aside sin and things that hinder us in our walk with the Lord (Hebrews 12:1-2). It is not our works that made us right with God for salvation, and it is not our accomplished New Year’s Resolutions that should make us right with ourselves either. Sisters, we stand in grace (Romans 5:2). So, whether you choose to set goals or not, let grace be the foundation from which you live this new year. On December 31, 2023, may we love God and His Word more and look more like Christ, not because we managed to complete our resolutions or check off our lists, but because grace enabled us to look to God and find our rest and joy in Him alone.
--Amy O'Rear
No comments:
Post a Comment