Failed Resolutions?

It happens every year. Many of us make a New Year’s Resolution to exercise more in the coming year and eat less. Or we resolve to watch less TV and spend more time reading the Bible.

One woman I know resolved not to make sarcastic comments about other people. She says she succeeded for about an hour and sixteen minutes.

If you made a resolution, how do you define success or failure? If I exercise twice a week instead of four times as I resolved—is that failure? What if that is two times more often than I exercised last year? Could that be considered success?

Maybe, as some people have decided to do, we should skip making resolutions altogether. Just “resolve” that we are incapable of change.

Or maybe we should redefine “success.” Diet experts warn you not to give up just because, for one day, you fail to follow the diet plan.

It’s that way anytime we determine to make a life change, whether at the beginning of a new year or sometime later in the year. Whether I want to diet, exercise more, stop gossiping, or spend more time with God, I can’t give up when I blow it.

After all, God doesn’t call us to be successful. We will never be good enough on our own. He only asks us to be faithful:

We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up. We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith.–Hebrews 12:1-2 (GWT)

So if you’ve already blown your resolutions for 2012, remember the year has just begun. And you can start over. Today. Be faithful to your goals.