Two cheers for New Year's resolutions

New Year’s resolutions may mean that we mistakenly see our lives as land voyages (with everything under control) rather than sea voyages by sailing ship (where winds and currents can make our best efforts irrelevant). But they can also represent a Christian desire to try, try again.

The rousing words penned by James Russell Lowell in 1845—“Once to every man and nation, / comes the moment to decide, / In the strife of truth with falsehood, / for the good or evil side”—are dramatic. Put to music, they appear in 156 hymnals, according to Hymnary.org. But Westminster Seminary professor William Edgar points out in A Transforming Vision (Christian Focus, 2014) that those words are “man-centered. Why only once? … The hymn is close to fatalism: Once we make the wrong choice, we’re locked-in.”

Edgar contrasts Lowell’s view with God’s in Psalm 103, which teaches that “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. … He does not deal with us according to our sins. … As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion on those who fear him. …” Since “fear” in this context means “pray to,” Edgar rightly writes that “prayers are effective not because of anything in the formulation, or even in the thoughts of our hearts, but because we have a merciful God, who gives us a first chance, a second chance, a third, fourth, and on to the next time we cry out to him.”

So, please go ahead and make resolutions—but make them prayerfully, remembering that man proposes and God disposes.