Forgo Resolutions, Form Habits

The Failure of Resolutions

If I could convince you of one thing as you head into 2023 it would be to forgo resolutions, instead form habits.

Training for anything consists of forming habits or routines not simply making resolutions. You have likely hurled up many resolutions in years past, maybe you have already begun to do so for this year. After all, who doesn’t want to…

“Read the Bible in a year”

“Pray more”

“Lose weight”

“Eat healthy”

“Spend less time on social media”

“Be a better parent”

“Be a better spouse”

And so much more than these. Making resolutions is easier than eating tacos on Tuesdays. Keeping them? Well, not so much, which is a tale as old as time. However, year after year we go back to resolutions hoping for a “new” us in the process. You may as well expect apples from a plum tree.

I am not some bigoted ant-resolutions guy. I like resolutions. A man without any resolutions about him is merely wandering aimlessly in life. The failure of resolutions lies in the execution, not the intentions.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not advocating for the abolition of resolutions altogether. I merely want to show you a better starting point: the formation of habits.

Habit Making And Self-Control

When someone says, “I want to read the Bible in a year,” then fails within a couple of months (typically around Leviticus or Numbers), it is not because they lacked good intentions, rather they lacked a bible reading habit altogether.

The issue is habits. Simply printing off the reading plan or accessing it via your phone (generally a bad habit to pair with Bible reading) is not enough to bring the resolution to completion. We must form habits that bring the desired resolution to completion: we must read daily.

Ah, now we have the key to our “read the Bible in a year” resolution. You must form the habit of daily Bible reading. Seems easy enough.

However, habits and routines require self-control. The great battle of habit-forming lies within your heart. The Bible has a lot to say about self-control and its importance in the lives of God’s people:

It’s a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

It’s necessary for pastors in Titus 1.

It’s the foremost requirement for young men and essential for all believers in Titus 2.

There is much to say about each of those references. For now, it will suffice us to recognize God’s desire for His people to live with self-control, which means there is an indispensable, eternal value in self-control for Christians. You must be a man or woman who exercises self-control. Pursue habit making with self-control and the blessings of God in view

The Walls of Self-Control

Now, let’s cut to the thick of it with the always sharp serrated edge of Proverbs: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28

City walls protect what is inside (people, homes, resources and goods, buildings, government, etc.) by keeping the unwanted outside (plunderers, enemies, threats to security, etc.).

The concept may be a bit lost on us. Afterall, unless you live in a gated community or behind your own wall, you do not think about this much. Here in rural Arkansas, we travel from city and county to neighboring cities and counties without issue. State lines are the same way across the United States.

However, there was a time where a fortified wall was a major part of the citizens protection and military defense of a city. You must order your life this way. You must erect a wall around your life with self-control. The purpose of self-control, like the wall, is two-fold. It is for safekeeping what should be inside and for keeping out the unwanted.

Let’s tackle the “Read the Bible in a year” resolution, while applying habits and self-control. It should look something like this:

Make the Resolution

“I am going to read the Bible in a year.” Or something similar.

Be sure to answer the why behind the resolution. This is more motivating when you connect it to God’s why. “I am going to read the Bible in a year, so that I may be complete,

equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:17).” Connecting the resolution to God’s why drives the motivation beyond the temporal into the eternal, which strengthens our resolve.

Side note: You may choose not to read the entire Bible in a year and opt to read the Bible daily. The point is simply a daily reading of the Scriptures. Read it book by book and verse by verse.

Define the Habit

How, when, and where will you perform the habit.

How? Outline your Bible reading plan for the year. How will you attack the resolution each day? You may choose an existing plan or create your own (helpful resources available at the end of this post).

When? Define when you will read each day. I highly recommend first thing in the morning. Before you unlock your phone, check emails for the day, open social media to mindlessly doom scroll your feeds, open your Bible, pray for the Spirit’s illumination, and read.

Where? Find a place and prepare. Research shows that one great help for habit-making is preparing the stuff needed ahead of time. For example, if you want to run in the mornings, set your clothes out the night before.

It follows then, if you want to read your Bible first thing in the morning, put it in your morning spot. If you do not have a morning spot, create one. Patricia and I use a basket by the coffee maker, then we sit at our kitchen table. It does not take much, just a little prep goes a long way.

It’s hard to describe just how much I love the smell of my goatskin leather ESV bible and Folgers coffee in the mornings.

Exercise Self-Control

Now, build the wall. Building the wall of self-control in anything requires us to build like Nehemiah and his men built the walls of Jerusalem.

Fittingly for our illustration, the enemies of God destroyed the walls and the city because of God’s people not possessing sturdy self-control. They did whatever their hearts desired and suffered for it.

So, Nehemiah gathers the people, and they begin to rebuild the walls. But the enemies of God do not like it and so they threaten God’s people. Rather than retreating, Nehemiah gives his men a trowel and sword. Build with one hand and fight with the other.

Similarly, getting self-control is hard work. You must occupy one hand with a trowel and give the free hand a sword. Build the good and fight away the bad.

Do you wake up at the very last possible second so that you are always in a hurry? Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Even adding 30 minutes will give you more than enough time to commit to prayer and daily Bible reading.

Do you pick up your phone and lose yourself in it as soon as you turn its alarm off? Ditch the phone in the mornings. Use an alarm clock. Grab your coffee and your Bible first.

Exercise self-control. Commit to your resolution, create the habit necessary to complete it, and be self-controlled in your pursuit. Master yourself by building the wall around you.

Side note: Read a chapter of Proverbs a day on months with 31 days.

As the ancient maxim states: He conquers who conquers himself. However, let’s not descend into meaningless stoicism in our habits. One more thing is essential for godly habit-making: a desire to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Do you want self-control? Pursue the glory of God and enjoyment of Him forever. This is the only way to build a self-controlled life. After all the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever (Keech’s Catechism, Q&A #2).

A Final Plea

Though these same principles work for whatever resolution or habit you need to create, it is my hope and prayer that you will give the greater focus of habit-making to daily Bible reading in 2023. It will reap rewards beyond what you can imagine.

Patricia and I have seen God’s handiwork in many ways since our six-year-old daughter, Winnie Kate, passed in September. One of the most precious to us is the way He has strengthened our faith in the last four months through daily Bible reading. But that work of His really began over a decade ago, largely through the mundane, routine habit of daily Bible reading.

Resources

For many great Bible reading options, browse Ligonier’s List of 2023 Bible Reading Plans
New Life Community Church has a plan with some helpful things to do before reading: https://www.newlifecommunity.co/biblereadingplan
Create your own Bible reading plan, with many great options, at www.biblereadingplangenerator.com
Several of Crossway’s ESV Bibles are 50% off until tomorrow at www.WTSbooks.com
Book: Habits of Grace by David Mathis
Book: The Common Rule by Justin Whitmel Earley
Book: Ploductivity by Douglas Wilson
Book: Do More Better by Tim Challies
Book: Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science (A Guide for Sinners, Quitters, and Procrastinators) by Drew Dyck