This year will be different.  This year will be the year I keep my New Year’s resolutions.  Don’t look at me like that.  I will. After all, it can’t be that hard to set aside an hour each day for exercise, to stop eating when I am full and to have alone time with Jesus each day. Three simple things, the trifecta for a healthy life.

If I were to look back at the last 10 years of my January 1^st articles, I would see the same thing written, year after year. I’m going to exercise more, eat less and pray often. I refuse to preview those stories because to see that I have failed those goals on an annual basis would be depressing, and who wants to start 2025 being depressed?

The good news is I have figured out why it is so difficult to keep these resolutions.  It’s the way I’m wired.  Yes indeedy, if in doubt, blame it on genetics. After all, that’s not the only area in which I struggle to do what I know I need to do.  Let me explain.

Before I became a Christian at the age of 27, I tried really, really hard to be a good girl. I tried harder at that than I do my New Year’s resolutions.  I wanted to please people, but I also wanted to please the angels, the saints, Jesus and God.  It was a lofty goal, and I failed more than I succeeded.  When I heard the message that there is nothing anyone can do in his/her own power to “earn” God’s favor, I realized why those times I took my angel to the playground to swing “her” was not the spiritual experience I wanted it to be.  (No doubt, referring to them with feminine names probably did not help).

Ephesians 2:8 reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, not because we have performed to His expectations.  God’s gift to us is His son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from our sins.  And just like my daily reminder to fulfill my New Years’ Eve goals, I daily have to remind myself that my good works do not earn me any grace points. So, why do I still try? (This is where that genetics’ thing falls apart.)

God’s grace-covering, of course, doesn’t mean that I have no responsibility in doing the right thing and serving others.  James 2:26 tells me so.  “Faith without works is dead.” If you read the New Testament, you will see dozens of scriptures that tell us works are not the cause of salvation; works are the evidence of salvation.       Legitimate faith in Christ always results in good works. Faith without works reveals a heart that has not been transformed by God, just like me saying that I am all about physical fitness without watching what I eat and spending time working out shows I am not serious about my goal to get in shape.

I find it comforting that God covers me with His grace.  There is nothing I can do to help myself in that area, and that assurance makes it easier for me to want to spend time in His presence, the third part of my New Year’s goal.

If it were just that easy with the eating and exercising part.