It’s not just starting but getting across the finish line that counts.
Thoughts on New Years resolutions, the desire for physical improvement and where this fits with a Christian worldview.
It’s January the 2nd as I write this and my social media feed is awash with people pledging to do everything from staying alcohol free for January, losing weight, joining a gym or starting a new career. But why would we imagine that the very determination and discipline that we lacked in December would miraculously appear in January?
There are a number of reasons people fail their New Years resolutions (NYR). The first and most common is that the methods involved aren’t satisfying enough in their own right, and so after punishing the body for a week or two and feeling worse that resolve soon fades. So picking an action that is satisfying is critical to success: If you don’t like running then don’t pledge to run every day — when those DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) kick in you’ll be back on the couch feeling sorry for yourself. If your diet is boring or tasteless there is no way you won’t start slipping in the odd ‘treat’ by the first weekend.
The second reason is that the goal was never really achievable; it was just not SMART enough: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic or Timely. You didn’t really consider exactly what you would need to do to get there and whether your plan could actually work. As the old saying goes — to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.
The third is that the motivation behind the goal is the wrong one. For example losing weight or building muscle to look better in the mirror when the reality is that if your happiness and self esteem rely on these things you will never reach your goal. Having attended two Bodypower Exhibitions and chatting with professional Bodybuilders who have the kind of body shapes that many of us aspire to, it’s apparent that if you don’t like your body then how ever much you change it you’ll never be happy. If that’s the case you can work all you like in January but your lack of satisfaction at the results will undermine your willingness to continue.
But there is a bigger issue hiding behind NYRs. Most people quickly realise that unless they carry on with their resolutions any gains they’ve made will dissappear. The evidence backs this up — those that lose weight on a diet almost always put it back on and probably a bit more. If you get fitter in a month then the only way to maintain that fitness is to carry on exercising — for ever! The reality is that most of the goals people set on January 1st are really lifestyle changes and therefore are better framed as goals for life, and unless you grasp that on January 1st you will almost certainly fail, it’s just a question of when.
But however ineffective NYR are there is something compelling about the prospects of a fresh start; Of the mistakes and missed opportunities of the past being put behind us and an opportunity to do the right thing. That should not be a surprise to Christians; it is the key message of the Bible and so is a narrative that runs across history, myth and fable, and even today remains a key theme of Hollywood; follow the character of Loki in Avengers for a great example.
Those who have become Christians know all about what it means to start again; it’s a requirement after all. As Jesus says in John 3:3
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
After that initial step of faith to believe, our second action is repentance: to turn around and stop doing the things we did that fell short of Christ’s commands; our previous sins. The second is to actively do the things that we are called to do in service of the Lord, now thankfully with the Holy Spirit to help us as John reminds us later on in Chapter 3.
But just like a NYR many people make a claim of faith in Jesus without considering the cost or what the reality of this life will be. The Bible is really clear that before we start our journey following Christ we need to understand what we’re signing up to.
Counting the Cost
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
This concept of dying to self and our own desires is a biblical fundemental. The archetype for us all; Jonah — called to do God’s will, runs away and is literally swallowed by the sea in disobedience and spat out on the shore a new man ready for obedience.
Like Jonah that new start isn’t one where we find ourselves the finished article, but a work in progress. The transition we are undergoing won’t be completed until we die, so taking a short term NYR approach is doomed from the start. The goal we are going for is to cross the finish line at the end of our lives, to be greeted by the Lord and told:
‘Well done, good and faithful servant’. Matthew 25:21
The Long Term
So rather than think about our lives in the months and years we expect to have ahead of us we really need to become much more eternity minded. One of the issues I see in Crossfit culture is competitors and athletes taking a short term approach to their goals and being prepared to destroy themselves physically for an event, or worse still just to beat someone in a gym workout. This body is the only one you’ll get and whether you destroy it through a lack of exercise and poor diet or by too much is irrelevant — it’s still destroyed. I’m not decrying the need to maintain or improve bodily health, to compete or just to set the goal of a new Clean and Jerk PR, but we need to put these goals in their place.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24–27
Physical training and healthy food choices are fantastic ways of building spiritual muscle as we make regular hard choices and avoid the easy route. Following the desires of our physical bodies is the number one route to sin, so bringing it under the control of Christ will also keep us on that narrow path. After all our body is also the temple of Christ and as I’ve already said — He has only given you one; so there is a spiritual reason to look after it. But this physical shell will also age and die and so it should never be our God and neither should diet or exercise. They just have no value to us beyond this life.
An eye on the prize
It’s why the most important question to ask this year is where am I going? If we don’t know what our long term aim is we are likely to miss it. The path to destruction is wide and the route to salvation is a narrow path. Getting on it and staying on it is critical.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1–3
Ultimately we are in a race for life, and it is guaranteed to be tough one so we need to always look at how our personal goals fit into this, whether short term NYR or longer term pursuits. If they aren’t taking us in the direction of the finish line where Jesus awaits us then we really need to be ditching them.
So maybe this New Year you should make a fresh start; why not choose to really follow Jesus Christ; dropping everything he asks you to drop, and following him wherever he leads you? Now that’s a resolution with a real promise of winning.