Resolute Resolutions
It’s a brand new year. Crazy, right? 2025 swept through like a strong wind. With a new year comes new opportunities to grow and to change. Surprisingly, I didn’t see many posts about New Year’s resolutions. And maybe that’s because, deep down, many of us have grown tired of making promises we know we won’t keep.
Resolutions have always felt a bit pointless to me. We make bold declarations for change often far-fetched, a complete 180 from how we actually live and sometimes even in opposition to who we truly are or who God is patiently forming us to become. We aim high, but we rarely build rhythms that support the change we say we want. That’s not to say resolutions are bad. But how often do we set extremely high expectations for a new year with no actionable steps, no accountability, and no real surrender?
Spiritually, this shows up in subtle ways. We resolve to pray more, read our Bible more, serve more, love better but our lives stay largely the same. We know the Word, we hear the Word, we talk about the Word, yet we struggle to walk it out. James reminds us, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Deception doesn’t always look loud or intentional; sometimes it looks like good intentions with no follow-through.
What if the issue isn’t that we don’t desire change, but that we prefer manageable change?
Adjustments that fit neatly into our current lifestyle. Growth that doesn’t inconvenience us. But Scripture doesn’t call us to comfort it calls us to transformation. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
Transformation requires disruption. It asks us to unlearn patterns, surrender control, and allow God to confront areas we’ve learned to excuse.
Jesus never framed following Him as self-improvement. He framed it as surrender. “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). That invitation is daily. Ongoing. Costly. And yet, life-giving. A resolute resolution isn’t about what sounds good in January it’s about what we’re willing to commit to in February, March, and beyond.
So maybe this year isn’t about creating a longer list of goals, but about asking better questions. What is God inviting me to release? Where have I grown spiritually stagnant? What small, faithful step is He asking me to take consistently? Because real change doesn’t come from a moment of motivation, but from a posture of obedience.
And the beauty is this: God isn’t asking us to transform ourselves. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Our role is simply to say yes again and again when it’s uncomfortable, when it’s slow, and when the results aren’t immediately visible.
Maybe that’s the real resolution this year: not to try harder, but to surrender deeper. To choose faithfulness over feelings. To live resolute not in our own strength, but in quiet dependence on a God who is always faithful to finish what He starts.
Have a great year!
Let’s keep figuring it out,
Kennedy Robinson
WALK THE ROAD. CHALLENGE THE NORM. LET GOD LEAD.
