Can We Reset?

The beginning of a new year provides an opportunity to not only re-evaluate our lives, but to take constructive actions.  When we go before the Lord and seek His direction, His Word, brought to light by the leadership of His Spirit, can provide us with sound principles that we can apply.  Our desire should not be to make a so-called "New Year's Resolution" because it is trendy, the thing to do, but to allow the Lord to give us resolve to do His will - and that can happen every single day.   Paul writes in Philippians 3:
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

We can adopt the mindset of "pressing on," according to verse 14, and realize that God will adjust our thinking and actions by revealing His will for us.

A survey that was taken near the end of last year showed what respondents' plans were regarding New Years' resolutions.  A Christian Post article states:

YouGov released a survey asking Americans about their views on 2025 as it comes to a close and their New Year’s resolutions for 2026. It found that a majority of Americans (51%) did not intend to make New Year’s resolutions for 2026, while 31% sought to set goals for the new year.

One-fourth of respondents said they wanted to exercise more, but as the article relates: "two resolutions related to spending more time with family and focusing on faith rounded out the top 10 most common New Year’s resolutions. Fifteen percent of Americans said 'spending more time with family' was one of their New Year’s resolutions, while the same percentage of U.S. adults said that 'praying more' was among their top aspirations for 2026."

Then, you drop down and find that 9% of those responding to the survey said that "focusing on spiritual matters" was a resolution for the coming year.

Oh, by the way, last Friday, January 9 - the second Friday of January, was the yearly commemoration of Quitters Day, the day on which it is thought that most people give up those New Year's resolutions.   Talk about staying power, well, not really!

It's been said that it takes 21 days to develop and cement a new habit.  But, that same habit can be dropped in a day.  So, resolutions are abandoned before they have a chance to take root.

We can recognize that the presence of the Holy Spirit gives us the power to change, the power and motivation to live a holy life before God.  Culture seems to thrive on convenience and quick fixes, but that's not the story portrayed in Scripture.  In order to live the life God intends, we have to be consistent and determined, and not give up when things get tough.  

We can become more disciplined in our walk with the Lord by participating in the spiritual disciplines - prayer, Bible study, participation in the local church, service.  That's a day-by-day practice; God's mercies are new every morning, and we can commit each day to Him. It's more than making a casual, trendy resolution - it's making the daily decisions to surrender to the will of God.  As Paul wrote, "I die daily."  Daily, we can live for Him, we can start each day with a clean slate and ask God to write His story through us - today.  Today.