The airwaves bristle with articles about New Year’s resolutions, even though some research shows that most people break them within a week. Whatever drags us back to status-quo-life looms too large to overcome with measly resolutions.

Resolution to exercise?
It’s hard to overcome the time and energy hindrances that consume us.

Resolution to eat healthy?
It’s hard to overcome the pull of soul-soothing food that pretends to ease life’s anxieties.

Resolution to spend more time with family? Get out of debt?
Spend less time on electronics?
It’s hard to overcome the pull of pain-numbing distractions and comforts. 

Even when we know certain areas of our lifestyle hurt us—and ultimately hurt others—it’s easier to resign than to overcome.

So how do we overcome?

Long-term overcoming requires strength far beyond willpower. The problem behind a keep-up-with-everyone-else, do-anything-to-come-out-on-top lifestyle—that requires resolutions to try to maintain—roots far deeper than the fruits of bad habits and busyness. The problem started in the Garden of Eden, in three words: Fear, Shame and Pride.

Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the shame of blemished souls drove them to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. The fear that God would discover their deficiencies drove them to hide from Him. The walls of fear and shame separated them from God and each other. It all started with the pride of wanting to be gods over their own life.

But God designed them to thrive only within His Presence—His circle of fellowship—abiding in the Vine (Jn. 15:4-5). Their spirits flourished with the constant flow of Trinity peace, wisdom, significance, the deep joy of transparent fellowship without fear, shame or pride. They gave it away to become their own gods.

In trying to hide the shame of our blemished souls, a “keep-up-with-everyone-else” lifestyle controls us. In trying to mask our fear of not having what it takes, a do-anything-to-come-out-on-top lifestyle controls us.

The remedy? How do we overcome, really?

Jesus paid the blood-price for souls, so we could return to His Presence of Trinity fellowship—abiding in the Vine. That’s the only place we can share in His life, peace and wisdom, where fear, shame and pride melt away.

There’s no harm in making resolutions, but the real power comes from taking time to fellowship with the Father, Living Word, and Holy Spirit. Yes, sometimes it’s hard to walk in obedience, to align our character with Christ’s character.

If we ask, He will help. It’s simple but there’s no shortcut:

1. Spend time in Scripture and prayer daily—even if you read just one verse before turning out the light—ask the Spirit to speak through the words as you drift to sleep.
2. Approach the Lord with a heart of faith, “believing the He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
3. Approach with a heart of repentance. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn.1:9).
4. Take your cares to the Lord as a first resort (1 Pet. 5:7). Allow God to expose the shame and fear in your heart so it can melt away in His Presence.
5. “If any of you lacks wisdom… ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault…it will be given to him” (Jm. 1:5).
6. Approach God with thanksgiving and praise (Ps. 100:4). Let Him surprise you with the peace that rises in a thankful heart.
7. Build relationships with other believers who abide in the Vine. “Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:15-16, NIV).
8. Abandon your trust to Christ. He’ll respond in the way that’s good and right, and won’t give up on you. The more He surprises you with His answers, the more you’ll realize your quest is not one-way, but a two-way exchange of His healing, transformational life.

.

As we continue to spend time abiding in the Vine, His real-food, soul-satisfying roots will grow deeper, causing the things of this world to increasingly lose their pull. We’ll find less need to make resolutions. It’s not short-term success, but patiently allowing God to restore our soul to what He intended for us.