Don't Fall Into The "New Year, New You" Trap

You’ll only cause a bigger mess.

I know that no two algorithms are alike but every December I start to see a wide range of “New Year, New You” or “Here’s How To Reinvent Yourself In The New Year” posts.

It’s usually followed by some ridiculous set of guidelines:

• Don’t leave your house for 6 months

• Workout twice a day

• Write three books

• Move to a different country

• Fast for 26 hours a day

So I’ll just say it from the start here…

You cannot reinvent yourself. You won’t be able to create a new you.

I’m not saying that because it’s impossible to follow the guidelines all the guru’s tell us to follow.

I’m saying it because you don’t have that kind of power.

Anything you “reinvent” yourself toward will actually be far worse than the previous version of you. You’ll turn out far worse because if you’ve seen problems in your life for the past year, you won’t be able to come up with a solution on your own. You’ve been the problem. And if you are the problem, you can’t also be the solution.

I know this because I’ve fallen victim to the lies.

I’ve spent the better part of my adulthood somewhat dissatisfied with who I am.

My workouts have been inconsistent.
It always seems like there’s more with God that I’m missing.
I consistently fall short as a husband/dad.
Staying on schedule is tough for me.
Working efficiently and effectively has never really been my MO¹.

Some days, I can look at that list and say, “I’m just being hard on myself.” But on others, it seems like I’m grasping for something in each category and simply cannot reach “success.”

Due to those latter thoughts and the reality that I have some gaps in each category, I’ve tried to reach for whatever I could grab onto and feel good about.

Hence falling into the guru’s trap.

But guess what?

I’ve not once been successful at reinventing myself. In all those categories and flaws I am the problem. I cannot also be the solution to my problem.

But here’s what I’ve learned.

God can make you brand new in every way.

Like literally, every. single. way.

That’s the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Everything that needs to be stopped in us—whether it be a sin or bad habit—can be put to death by the power of the resurrection.

Let’s consider what actually happened at the cross in three days later in the resurrection.

From Curse to Blessing

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they brought a curse against all humanity. That curse was death. Even though there would be moments of grace and mercy and flourishing because of God‘s faithfulness, everything would largely be defined by death.

People die. Work is hard and businesses eventually fail. Working the ground is a never-ending toil and only successful if conditions are perfect. In general, the end to all things wasn’t positive.

And people didn’t just die spiritually or physically. There’s this deep seated brokenness that impacts every single area of life.

Relationships? Broken.
Work ethic? Broken.
Health? Broken.

In an attempt to make everything better for themselves, Adam and Eve ruined every corner of life for everyone who has ever lived. You and I included.

It’s a curse. The curse of death is why we can’t wake up to our alarm or workout consistently. It’s why we can’t work efficiently or learn skills with ease. It’s why we find anger easier than peace in our closest relationships.

When Jesus was on the cross, he didn’t only die for our salvation and ability to inherit eternal life one day. He died to remove the curse from humanity.

In his death and resurrection He defeated the curse, sin, and death.

As a result, humans can now be defined by flourishing and life. Do humans still die on earth? Yes, of course. But we can have life in our bones to the end. And at the moment we die we can have a life forever with renewed bodies and renewed minds.

And we can live a life of blessing according to Ephesians 1:3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
—Ephesians 1:3

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places rests on the shoulders of those in Christ Jesus.

With Jesus’s death and resurrection He quite literally removes the curse and replaces that with a blessing—the same blessing He received for His obedience.

So what does this mean for our lives?

It means when we seek to “reinvent” ourselves or make New Year’s resolutions in our own strength it’s as if we are trying to reorganize the curse and make it look like a blessing. We will never succeed. It doesn’t matter how we arrange dead flowers, they’ll always be dead. We need to replace the dead flowers with new, fully alive flowers. We need to stop living according to our cursed flesh and live according to our blessed lives in Christ.

And we do that by living according to the resurrection.

I said earlier—the resurrection of Christ impacts everything. Because He resurrected God can change everything about us. He has authority over every sin and bad habit we find ourselves in.

So the questions we can ask God are this:

God, how does the resurrection apply to this broken area of my life?

And Spirit, how can I cooperate with You to make this my living reality?

Because you and I cannot reinvent ourselves or “resolution” ourselves into Christ-likeness. Only the Trinity can do that kind of work in us and, by God’s mercy, He loves us so much that He has taken special interest in that task.

In fact, He’s made His home in us with the sole goal of making us holy and guarding us for the Day of Redemption. So don’t settle for a resolution that will only last a week and bring shame if not completed to perfection. God’s vision for you is so much bigger.

Later this week paid subscribers will receive an article titled “How To Actually Keep Your New Years Resolutions” that will go more in-depth on how and why to pray/do.

Have a great week!

—Brandon

A Photo from A. A. Kostas at Waymarkers

1. I had to look up what this meant, ha. It’s short for the latin phrase modus operandi and means “way of operating.”