What is a New Year’s Resolution? Some insightful soul wrote, “A New Year’s Resolution is a promise to stop doing everything we enjoy.” In most cases I believe this is true. A more biblical definition would be a “New Year’s Resolution is a promise to stop fulfilling the desires of our flesh. New Year’s Resolutions in themselves are good but they are futile because of ourselves or inability to keep them. The law of God is good, wrote Paul, but man in himself is carnal and cannot keep it (Romans 7:12-15. Thus, New Year’s Resolutions are futile unless we find a way to deal with our real problem. This leads me to ask several questions.
- What is our problem? Our Flesh
- What is our Flesh? It is our inherited, Adamic disposition to rebel against the authority of God, really His Word, and follow our own selfish and ungodly desires with no thought of God’s will or the welfare of our fellow man. Furthermore, the most serious things about the flesh is that it is “hostile to God, is not subject to the law of God and indeed cannot be” (Romans 8:7).
- How can we overcome our Flesh? We cannot. Even the great Apostle Paul could not (Romans 7:15). Many go forth in religious services to “rededicate” their lives it only to find within a very short time that the flesh is still in charge of their lives. Millions resolve each New Year to do much better in the New Year than in the old, but they soon discover that the New Year is just a New Start on old habits. Each year I greet my friends across the land with the pledge to them, “I promise to pray that your troubles in the New Year will last no longer than your New Year’s resolution,” and not one of my friends has ever taken offense. Instead they have been encouraged, knowing in their hearts that their troubles in the New Year would be nil in a week – at the most one month – if they lasted no longer than their New Year’s Resolution.
- Does the Bible tell us how to overcome our Flesh, the internal Monster, which is an enemy of God and a rebel against His Word and will, preventing us humans from doing what we know we should do and doing the opposite? (Romans 7:15). Yes, the Bible plainly warns us that our flesh must be Crucified (Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24).
- Who, according to the Bible, is the Crucifier of the Flesh? Not we ourselves. Physically no person can crucify himself, and spiritually no one can crucify himself. The only One who can crucify our flesh is the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:8-13).
- What part, if any, does the believer play in seeing that His Flesh is crucified or put to death? First, the believer must be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, which became a reality when he or she turned from their sins (truly repents) and trust Jesus and Him alone as Lord and Savior. “If any person has not the Holy Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8:9b). This being true, the believer must give the Holy Spirit permission to “mortify” (KJV) or “put to death” (NASV, NIV) the flesh. Paul spells out both the work of the Holy Spirit and our involvement with Him in the business of crucifying our flesh in Romans 8:13, “If you live after the flesh, you will die; but if you by the aid of the Holy Spirit do CAUSE TO BE PUT TO DEATH (Thanatoute – the word for death in Greek with a causative ending) the deeds of the body (evil acts of the flesh expressed through one’s body) you will live.”
The best way I know to explain crucifixion is to quote the words of a brother who impacted my life as no other person I ever knew in understanding the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. So here goes:
“An experience some years ago brought home to me this aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry. We had at that time a pet dog named Skipper which had won his way into our affections – especially those of our children. One day Skipper was struck by a passing automobile. Though he recovered in a measure from his injury, Skipper was never himself again. His disposition was ruined and he became a problem in the neighborhood. One day after he had snapped at my little daughter I sent him to the veterinarian for observation. The doctor explained that sometimes a dog’s disposition was permanently altered by an injury of that nature. He stated that Skipper would probably be a dangerous pet to have with the little children in the home and frankly advised me to put him out of the way.
The veterinarian had made his recommendation. He stood ready to carry out the course that he had advised. But the problem was mine – the dog was mine, and the children were mine. It was my responsibility to say the word, and I said it. I have always felt that I said the right word, and ever since I have held in grateful appreciation the friend who counseled me so wisely and who then so faithfully did the “dirty work” for me. So far as I know that is the only sentence of execution I have pronounced – except that which time and time again I pronounce when the Holy Spirit reveals to me the working of a vicious nature within and waits my word to carry out the death sentence which he so strongly recommends.
My relation to Skipper in the incident referred to above designates the position which the believer must take in regard to the problem of self. But the act of pronouncing God’s sentence must be cultivated until it becomes a habit of mind. That attitude is described in Romans 6:11 where Paul says, “Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.” The tense of the verb is present, indicating a continuing process of reckoning. The figure is that of a bookkeeper making his entries, or of a navigator setting his course in a given direction. Appearances to the contrary, our old man has been crucified, as God’s Word plainly states. “Ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). “They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts thereof” (Gal. 5:24). The inference is unavoidable. The thing is done. The crucifixion has already taken place. By faith we must accept the bearings God has given us and hold to the course in a steady reckoning.
A final caution: This business of being “dead to sin” (crucified) does not necessarily take away its appeal, nor does it render us incapable of responding. We are free to do as we choose. But God’s perfect will is that we “play” by His rules, and the Holy Spirit is yearning for us to do so (James 4:5). His rule is this : Quietly reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin and alive unto God as He has said (Romans 6:11). And the wonderful thing is that when we make His reckoning a “lifestyle” and take the position that we are dead to sin (including self) and do not have to commit it and are alive to God, the victory is ours, as we find ourselves being filled moment by moment by the Holy Spirit and walking in His power.”[1]
So don’t quit making New Year’s Resolutions. Just be sure they honor Jesus. If they do, be sure you don’t depend on your strength (flesh) to obey them. Give the Holy Spirit permission to kill your Skipper and move to a higher level
[1] Ralph Herring, God Being My Helper