Keep Your 2025 New Year’s Resolutions with a Biblical Perspective
It’s January 7, 2025—how are your New Year’s resolutions going?
If you feel your motivation slipping, you are not alone.
The idea of making resolutions is ancient. Over 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians promised their gods that they would live better. Centuries later, early Christians began each year by reviewing the past and choosing to live in a new way.
Why Resolutions Inspire and Challenge Us
New Year’s resolutions create excitement and hope. They can also cause stress when people struggle to keep them.
A 2020 study in PLOS ONE gives encouraging news. People who set approach-oriented goals succeeded more often—58.9%—than people with avoidance-oriented goals, who reached 47.1%.
Approach Goals vs. Avoidance Goals
Here’s the difference:
- Avoidance goals focus on what you plan to stop.
Examples: “Eat less sugar,” “Watch less TV.” - Approach goals focus on what you plan to start.
Examples: “Work out three times a week,” “Invite friends over twice a month.”
Key point: Lasting change happens when you fill your life with positive action instead of only cutting out negatives.
A Biblical Perspective: Fill, Don’t Just Empty
The Bible supports this idea.
Philippians 4:8 urges believers to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable.
Scripture warns against harmful behavior. Yet real growth means more than avoiding sin or bad habits. It begins when you fill your mind and life with what is good.
Your 2025 Resolution Challenge
This year, set approach-oriented resolutions and invite friends or your small group to join you.
Instead of only writing what you will stop, decide what you will start. Choose actions that bring purpose and strengthen your faith.
Encourage one another and keep your 2025 New Year’s resolutions all year long.
Have a blessed and successful 2025!
