Happy New Year, everybody!

It’s 2025 and you know what that means. Resolutions. A brand new year brings a new opportunity to start over and a lot of us start making that list – eat less, pray more, stop scrolling through Instagram more than you do the Bible, and so on. But somewhere between January 1 and February 14 (let’s just call it the Valentine’s Day Resolution-Massacre), most of us watch our ambitions die a slow and predictable death. This yearly exercise in futility obviously raises the question – why bother?

Here’s why. Resolutions aren’t the problem—you are. The issue isn’t with the idea of making resolutions, it’s with the way we treat them. We slap them on like theological sticky notes, meant to look impressive but doomed to fall off at the first sign of resistance. They’re fleeting, flimsy, and far too shallow to mean anything. But resolutions done right? They aren’t about polishing up your image or trying out a few moral upgrades. They’re about waging war on complacency, taking life by the scruff, and dragging it—kicking, screaming, and often resisting—into joyful obedience before the face of God. They’re about putting to death the deeds of the flesh. They’re about denying your self, picking up your cross and following Christ. They’re about getting back up after a long year knocks you down so that you can get back into the fight.

Whether you’ve made a formal list of resolutions or not, as a Christian, you cannot faithfully enter into a new year without being resolved to be and to do certain things.

Jonathan Edwards, that grand Puritan overachiever, understood the weight of living with purpose. His 70 resolutions weren’t about chasing personal success or impressing others with his piety. They were a bold, unrelenting declaration of war—against laziness, sin, and the slow decay of half-hearted living. Edwards wasn’t content to drift through life with vague intentions or squander his days on trifles. He resolved to live, as he so famously put it, “with all my might, while I do live.” For him, life was too brief, eternity too vast, and God’s glory too important to waste a single moment. And the same should be true for us.

Why Resolutions Matter

Before we talk about how to keep resolutions, let’s answer the more fundamental question – why make them in the first place? Isn’t the Christian life supposed to be all grace and no grit?

Ha! Not in the least. Grace isn’t opposed to effort, it is opposed to entitlement. Effort is the fruit of grace, not its condition.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast

Ephesians 2:8-9

The Bible repeatedly calls us to live intentionally, and resolutions, if done right, are one way to obey that call. Here’s why they matter:

1. Resolutions redeem the time.

The Apostle Paul is clear when he instructs us to “walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). Time is slippery, always trying to wriggle out of your grasp, and fools let it run down the drain. A resolution, rightly made, is like slapping duct tape on the leaks in your bucket. It’s a way of refusing to let life’s moments evaporate into the ether, reclaiming them for God’s glory instead of letting them be stolen by the world’s distractions.

2. Resolutions train for godliness.

Paul’s instruction to “train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7) is a polite way of saying, “Stop sitting around and get to work.” Training is sweaty, gritty, and often downright unpleasant. Jonathan Edwards understood this. He resolved to never let a moment go to waste, knowing that spiritual growth doesn’t come through osmosis but through effort—prayer, discipline, and the occasional faceplant. Resolutions are the gym memberships of godliness, and like all training, they require showing up even when you’d rather sleep in.

3. Resolutions align us with eternity.

James tells us that life is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). Most of us act like we have an endless supply of vapors to waste. Edwards didn’t. He resolved to live every hour as if it were his last. A good resolution forces you to look your mortality in the eye and ask, “Am I living for what actually matters?”

In short, resolutions matter because we are called to glorify God in every area of life—our time, habits, and pursuits. They aren’t about self-improvement, they’re about stewardship.

How to Keep Your Resolutions

Resolutions often drop dead because we approach them with the attention span of a squirrel suffering from ADHD and the theological depth of a Christian t-shirt. Edwards didn’t just make resolutions, he kept them. And he managed this not because he was a Puritan superhero but because he leaned on two key things, the power of God and the grace of good habits.

So, here’s some theological help:

Start with dependence.
Resolutions detached from God’s grace are like sails on a boat with no wind. Edwards knew this, which is why he prayed for divine help every step of the way.

It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13

Start with grace, or don’t bother starting at all.

Aim for God’s glory, not self-improvement.
The chief end of man is to glorify God, not to hit new personal records on your Bible reading plan. If your resolution is just another productivity hack masquerading as sanctification, toss it. Edwards didn’t resolve to be a better version of himself for himself. He resolved to love others, mortify sin, and pursue holiness, because he wanted to move the needle toward glorifying God. If you’re not doing the same, then you’re aiming too low.

Repent and recommit.
You’re going to fail. Accept it now. Sanctification isn’t a straight road. It’s more like a rollercoaster, complete with plunges into failure. But failure isn’t final. When you mess up, repent, grab hold of God’s grace, and recommit. The Christian life is about perseverance, not perfection, and the beauty of grace is that you can start fresh every morning.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

And now, here’s some Practical Help:

Write it down.
Resolutions left rattling around in your head are like toddlers in a quiet room—they practically don’t exist. Writing them down gives them weight, turning intentions into commitments. Plus, there’s something satisfying about seeing them in black and white (or ink-stained parchment, if you’re feeling Puritan).

Review regularly.
Review your resolutions weekly because what gets reviewed gets done. If you wait until next December to see how you’re doing, your resolutions will already be as dead as last year’s Christmas tree. Build in regular checkpoints to stay on track.

Find accountability.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron,” not “iron stares politely from across the room.” Share your resolutions with someone who will actually hold you accountable when you start to slack off. And no, your cat doesn’t count, no matter how judgmental its stares might seem.

Start small.
Edwards wrote 70 resolutions, but he didn’t wake up one day and tackle them all at once. You don’t run a marathon by starting with checkpoint 26. Don’t resolve to conquer the Bible in a month if you’ve barely made it through Jude. Be realistic, and set goals that stretch you without snapping you.

Celebrate grace.
Progress, not perfection, is the goal. Every step forward, no matter how small, is evidence of God’s grace at work in your life. Don’t wait until you’ve “arrived” to celebrate. Praise God for every victory along the way, knowing that even the smallest progress is a testimony to His faithfulness. If you ground your resolutions in grace and tackle them with practical wisdom, you might just see them through—not because you’re strong but because God is.

Conclusion

Jonathan Edwards didn’t write his resolutions to impress anyone. He wrote them to glorify God in every facet of his life. They were not New Year’s goals, they were lifelong commitments.

As you approach this New Year, don’t dismiss resolutions as frivolous. Instead, see them as an opportunity to press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). With theological grounding and practical tools, your resolutions can be more than January’s good intentions—they can be fuel for a life lived to the glory of God.

So, what will you resolve to do for Christ this year? And more importantly, what will you resolve to be?