The new year is fast approaching, just a couple of days away. Have you made your list of resolutions for the New Year?
Some of the more common New Year’s resolutions are commitments to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money more wisely, and to spend more time with family. By far, the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, exercise more and eat a healthier diet.
Like other Christian festivals, the celebration of New Years Day started long before the church came into existence. Like many things we’ve adopted, it has its origins in ancient Roman culture. Julius Caesar instituted New Year's Day on January 1 to honor Janus, the two-faced god who looks backwards into the old year and forwards into the new. The custom of "New Years resolutions" started then, as Romans made resolutions with a moral flavor... mostly to be good to others.
I have mixed feelings about making New Year's resolutions. In the first place, I can find nothing in scripture that suggests it's a Biblical concept. The Holy Spirit, not a New Year's resolution, is the agent of meaningful transformation in a Christian’s life. New Years resolutions are a reminder of trying to change and improve by our own strength and will. Making resolutions has the same feel to it as the widely established non-biblical belief that "The Lord helps them that help themselves." The truth is, if you added the word "cannot," as in... "The Lord helps them that cannot help themselves," there might be some validity to the thought.
Another potential pitfall with New Year's resolutions is intentionally waiting for New Year's Day to fix something that is broken, especially if sin is involved. Sin needs our immediate attention. It's the same feeling you get when you hear an inexperienced parent give a disobedient child "until the count of ten" to obey. The take-away message for the child, is that a deferred percentage of obedience is acceptable. In reality, "obey" and "later" (or "next year") don't work well together in the same response.
Okay all that said... if anyone should have reason to make a New Year's resolution, it should be Christians. We have been freed from the bondage of sin by the Holy Spirit, Who is able to effect genuine transformation in our lives. If you want a picture of this liberation, put yourself in the place of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20. If God can overcome the spiritual bondage described in that passage, He can overcome the sinful behaviors in our life as well.
For most, if not all Christians, a more focused and realistic goal would be a resolution to cooperate totally, completely and submissively with the Holy Spirit in order to be delivered from one particular area of sin in your life. Being "in Christ", being saved, does not give Christians automatic or immediate deliverance from sinful behaviors, especially those that have been developing over many years. Addictions to smoking, alcohol, drugs, and pornography, for example, are extremely hard habits to break. Nevertheless, there are concrete steps that you can take to put yourself in the path of God's grace for deliverance from all types of sin, but you must be resolute in your determination to be freed from sinful conduct and attitudes.
Resolving to deal with temptation and life-dominating sin is what God demands of his followers. Only HE can help us overcome sin and we do need to be in serious resolve to work with the Holy Spirit in defeating the things that impede our spiritual growth. Here’s a short list of practical steps that you can follow when you are tempted to turn towards sin in your life.
(1) First, we should thank God for the temptation. Yes, thank Him because it is an opportunity for personal spiritual growth. Begin with a prayer to God thanking Him for the trial. Remember, it is not a sin to be tempted - temptation becomes sin when we turn towards that temptation in the direction of sin.
(2) Next we must move away from the direction of the sin. If it is coming at you, change your course. Do whatever you have to do to remove yourself from the circumstances that put you in sins path. Put as much distance as you can between you and the source of the temptation. Run don’t walk casually. This means be decisive and be quick about what you do. You know the problem and how you are tempted, so be bold and decisive.
(3) As you are moving away from the source of temptation, quote scripture that you have memorized that applies directly to the area of temptation. For example, if your struggle is with pornography and sexual immorality... then quote 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. Do this while you are moving away from the source of temptation. Reciting that passage of scripture over and over would be the best protection. You can get help from your preacher and the elders, to help identify scripture that applies to your sin and to help identify other spiritual disciplines that can be employed to reduce the incidence of temptation.
(4) Find yourself an "angel of accountability." Confess to that person that there is a specific sin that you are struggling with and ask that person to hold you accountable in that area.
(5) Finally, make for yourself and carry around a "think and do list" specific to your particular sin. You call it a "Philippians 4 list." In Philippians 4:8-9 we read... "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
Work with your accountability partner to make up a card or group of cards - one for each "whatever is..." as sited in Philippians 4:8 - and come up with a list of things that you can do that would be admirable, or lovely, etc. This is a personally intentional, deliberate and Holy Spirit focused and dependent process of dealing with the sin. The first part is to "put off" the sin; the last part is to "put something good on in its place." That is, do something different, something good!
Your accountability partner MUST be willing to ask you pointed questions each week and you must promise to answer honestly and to hide nothing from your accountability partner. Here’s a couple of questions that might be helpful... first is... "How many times were you tempted in your sin area this week?" The second is... "How many times did you turn towards the sin?"
As you struggle for freedom from sinful conduct you will be tempted over and over again. Remember, Satan doesn’t want you to succeed. Consider keeping a detailed count [a diary] of the number of times you are tempted for the purpose of tracking your progress. It is NO sin to be tempted. We sin the moment we take a small step in the direction of the sin rather than running away from the temptation. We sin the moment we hesitate from turning away from temptation. Writing down what happens and reading it back to yourself aloud, sharing it with your accountability partner, will be a very sobering exercise, one that will yield positive change in your attitude and help you build the mental strength for the next time you are in a weakened moment.
One other recommendation regarding your selection of an accountability partner - consider making it someone that you ABSOLUTELY do not want to have to report failure to, such as a younger Christian who considers you more mature in your faith, but who is mature enough to handle helping you with your spiritual temptations. Knowing that you will have to report failure, and knowing that it is someone to whom you do not want to admit failure to, is a powerful motivation that will make you think before sinning.
This sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but if you employ these steps in dealing with sin struggles and in getting control over your thoughts, there is no reason to be resigned to defeat. God is with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. Rely on Him.
Why not make a New Year's resolution to gain victory over one sin area in your life? And why not start working on that resolution today?
Have a Joyful New Year in serving the Lord and growing in Holiness!
