Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

~Proverbs 16:3 ESV

Each January, my heart turns toward reflection, and I must face resolve versus resolutions. I look back at the year, examine the good and bad, ask myself if I handled situations correctly, or investigate ways to improve in the future. During this time of reflection, I recognize strengths and weaknesses and make personal notes of areas that need extra attention in the coming year.

After a time of reflection, my attention shifts to the New Year. I want the next year to be an improvement over the last, at least in the areas I control. I have no control over the circumstances from left field, but I can choose how I respond and receive the impact of those events.

Once, a long list of resolutions each year was my go-to, but within a month, I ditched the list and neglected the goals. Maybe because there were too many or the list was too rigid. I don’t really know, but I could never make the resolutions happen long-term.

A few years ago, I changed how I approached the New Year. Instead of making a list of resolutions, I chose to feed my resolve. According to Dictionary.com, resolve means “to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine to do something.”

This year, as I think of growing my resolve, I’m reminded of the words to the hymn by Palmer Hartsough:

I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world’s delight;
things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight.
I am resolved to go to the Savior, leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true one, He is the just one, He has the words of life.
I am resolved, and who will go with me? Come, friends, without delay;
taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit, we’ll walk the heavenly way.
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

This is my resolve. I want this world’s worries to fade compared to the ultimate goal. So often, the heaviness and distraction capture my attention, and I lose heart. I lose sight. And ultimately lose my way. My resolve lingers and dies, and I try to manipulate and control my world. I am a poor god, so I’ve learned that when I begin to doubt and take the reins back, I declare myself more knowledgeable than God. May this not be so in 2025.

Looking into the New Year, I want resolve. Determination. Earnestness. I want my faith to be stronger than my fear and my hope greater than my doubts. Truth needs to be the voice in my ear, not the lies of the deceptive one. Surrender must be active and the need to control lessened. I desire forward momentum in my spiritual journey, not backward digression.

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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

~Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

Think of some areas where you need resolve in 2025.

Dear Jesus, please help me become the best version of myself possible in the coming year. Give me deep resolve to seek after You with everything I have within me. Amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2025: Resolve Versus Resolutions: Christy Bass Adams: All Rights Reserved