If you are anything like I am, you know you need to make some changes in this new year. Perhaps you’ve made New Year’s resolutions about the things you’d like to change. If so, I have some bad news for you:
Most New Year’s resolutions don’t work!
According to Dr. John C. Norcross, Professor of Psychology at the University of Scranton, less than 10% of the New Year’s resolutions people make are successfully accomplished. Why? I think it’s because when we make a New Year’s resolution, we are depending on our own will power and commitment to achieve it. In other words, we’re leaving God out of the equation.
Yet the Bible is very clear that God wants to work in our lives to bring about the change we need.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NKJV) Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Let’s take a brief look at this passage to see how we can cooperate with God to bring about lasting change in our lives.
1. Have the right motivation
According to verse 13, the reason I need to change is not to improve my life, but for God’s good pleasure. In other words, the question is not, “how do I need to change in order to make my life better?” Rather, it is, “how does God want to change me for His good pleasure – in order to fulfill His plan and purpose for my life?”
I NEED TO SETTLE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT I AM LIVING FOR CHRIST AND NOT FOR SELF!
2. Ask for God’s wisdom about what needs to change in your life
The fact is, we don’t even know the changes we need to make. Often, the change we think we need is not what we need at all.
I remember reading the story of a man who broke his leg. But when he went to have it treated, the X-rays revealed that he had a treatable cancer. This man thought his problem was a broken bone, and that certainly was an issue. But the priority issue, the one his life depended on having addressed, was something he was not even aware of.
In the same way, I may think my issue is smoking, drinking, or cursing – and those are all important issues. But God may be much more concerned about dealing with that negative, manipulative, self-centered attitude I don’t even realize I have.
Instead of struggling to make changes we think we need to make, we should ask God to show us how He wants us to change. And the way He normally does that is by renewing our minds as we study His word:
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3. Depend on God’s power and not your own
Whenever we try to make changes in our lives, there are three realities we must take into account:
(1) My flesh resists change!
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
(2) The devil will do everything he can to oppose me.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
(3) What I cannot do in my own power, God has already made provision for me to do by the power of His Spirit:
John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
No, our New Year’s resolutions are not likely to bring about the changes we really need in our lives. But when we humbly submit ourselves to God, asking Him to work in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure, He will build into our lives, over time, exactly the changes we need!
© 2019 Ronald E. Franklin
