Here we are in the beginning of 2020. It’s the time when a lot of people, bloated and sedentary, are thinking of New Year’s resolutions. Some of us joke about it, saying the only resolution we’re planning on making is to make no new resolution! This is an achievable goal, after all. But others think, Why not use the new calendar year as a prompting to make changes in my life? After all, as the trite phrase puts it, today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Maybe your resolution is to not overeat. Maybe it is to get (and actually use with regularity) a gym membership, or to finally use that treadmill that makes such a great sweater drying rack. Perhaps you resolve to keep better track of your finances so that you’re not so anxious about money or so things aren’t quite so uncomfortable a few days before your paycheck. Maybe your resolutions are more educational: to read more books or to learn a language. They may be more relational, as in resolving to be a better spouse or to be a better neighbor. And they may be spiritual, such as being more consistent in prayer or in Scripture study, or seeking greater holiness in some area in your life.

All of these are fine resolutions, in themselves. But you need to ask yourself three questions before you begin implementing them: 1) What is your motivation? 2) What is your goal?, and 3) What is your standard for doing this? Many people resolve to improve themselves but never ask themselves about their motivation, their goal, or their standard. These three things are part of what is sometimes called the “ethical triangle.”

Let’s say it’s January 1. You partied pretty hard last night, ate a lot, played a raucous board game, ate more, ran through a two-liter of pop all by yourself, ate more, sang an atrocious attempt at Auld Lang Syne after watching the ball go down at Times Square, then stayed awake staring at the ceiling. The past few weeks have been filled with parties and food fests. You’re getting to be a bloated blob. Or at least it seems so, there in the dark. Time to turn over a new leaf!

Why? Are you tired of feeling out of control? Do you suspect people are getting a little annoyed with you? Are you worried about your health? These are all possibly good secondary reasons to make changes to your life. But, for the believer, there is better motivation than that. It is love. Not ultimately love to yourself, or love to friends and family, or even to your spouse. You should take action because you’re motivated by love to God in Christ.

Our Lord Jesus has told us in Luke 10:27, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus was quoting from the law in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 6:5 we read, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”; in 10:12 we see, “Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul”; and in 30:6 God says, “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Do we get this? You may be motivated by love to self, by hatred of the effects of your overindulgence, by shame, or by any number of things that are perfectly fine under a greater motivation; but unless ultimately you are moved to change out of love to God in Christ, it’s not really a good change. Love for something else moves you, and that, dear reader, is idolatry.

What do you hope to accomplish in this change you want to make? What is the ultimate goal in your resolution? Do you want to be thought of as someone who is attractive? Do you want to be comfortable with yourself? Are you tired of feeling the way you do and want to feel better? Not one of these, in themselves, is a bad goal. But there is a far bigger goal to strive for, one that every true believer recognizes as the true goal of all of his life. It’s so basic, really, that it’s in a teaching tool that we use, in our church, for kids. That teaching tool is called the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and its justly famous first question asks, “What is man’s chief end?” “End,” in this context, means just what we’re looking at here: man’s chief or main goal for all of life.

So, what is man’s chief end? “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” That’s the goal of all of life—the glory of God. We see in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” That fits right in here.

As we seek this, a blessing we get is enjoying God more and more, as we see in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Again, it’s quite true that there can be many other sub-goals that we can have that are godly and appropriate. But if God’s glory is not the ultimate goal, then we’ve made an idol of whatever we hope to accomplish by our fine resolutions.

The third factor for your consideration is the last question I posed: What makes you think that this resolution is a good idea? And, for that matter, how should you do it? There are many possible answers. One could be that you believe it is a good thing to feel better, physically and even mentally. Another could be that your friends think it would be a good idea. Or society urges you on. So it seems like a good idea to resolve both to eat and weigh less. Again, you might have the idea that an effective way to lose weight would be to use some amphetamines from a friend at the gym. That would attend to your resolution! No, for you to have a godly resolution, you must not only aim for God’s glory, motivated by love to Him, but do it because He says so, and in the way that He says. You must have God’s standard, or ethical measuring stick, for what is right, true, and good.

Where do you find this standard? It’s the Bible, of course. So many of us know 2 Timothy 3:16–17 by heart. We use it to defend the inerrancy of Scripture. But these verses also teach the sufficiency of the Bible to teach us what is right and wrong, true and false, good and evil: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” To resolve, and then to do, something because you think it best—or you follow along with someone else’s assessment that it would be best—is to put your will, your decision, ahead of God’s. And that is idolatry once again.

And so to be truly a good and godly resolution, you need to have the motivation of love to God, the goal of His glory, and the standard of His revealed will in the Scriptures. All this, of course, through saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Now to practicalities. I can’t suggest particular resolutions that you might find useful, for, in God’s providence, we all have different situations. But I can give you some pointers on how to make doable resolutions. There are a couple tools I learned when I was an adult leader in the Boy Scouts. The first is called Stop-Start-Continue. It’s pretty simple. What do you need to stop in your life? What do you need to start? What is good, by God’s grace, and needs to continue? These questions can at least help you focus on where some change is needed—and where it’s not.

The second tool is called SMART Goals. Of course, these are not ultimate goals, since you already have that in God’s glory. As you might guess, SMART is an acronym. Each of your resolutions should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

So, you want to start being more sober in your eating habits, you want to stop being too heavy, and you want to continue, in Christ, to respond in love to God’s grace, show forth His glory, and do all biblically. Great! Here is an example of how you can do it SMARTly: Specifically, you will aim at losing 10 pounds. This is Specific, Measurable, and Achievable. It’s Relevant to your desire to honor and love your Father in heaven, glorify Him, and live according to the standard of His Word. The only question left is how it’s Time-bound. That also should go along with the rest of the SMART points. Let’s say in two months. That’s now Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

If there are big areas needing change, you would do well in asking one of your elders to help you, especially if you have a life-dominating sin such as habitual drunkenness, drug or gambling addictions, a pattern of gluttony, or something of the sort. Or you might ask one to help with less difficult matters, such as how to find a good Bible reading plan or giving you help in starting family worship. Those men are there to serve you and help you in your Christian walk, after all.

One last thing: you don’t have to wait till a calendar changes or you move to the next month. If you need to stop or start something, in Christ, the best time is now. Each second is a new increment of time. Seek God now, asking for His help in starting or stopping. Find His forgiveness in Christ if there’s something that needs to start or stop. And give thanks for His grace in helping you to continue in the way of godliness, in Christ, who is the Way (John 14:6).

Philip Pockras is pastor at Belle Center, Ohio, RPC.