My Children’s message on New Year Resolutions on the first Sunday of 2024 seemed to strike a chord for some in the congregation, and so I share it with you. The theme concerned those ‘Resolutions’ which people commonly talk about as one year comes to a close and another begins. Curiosity rather than any detailed research prompted an on-line search for ‘The Commonest UK New Year Resolutions 2024’ (Bing AI search 07.01.2024).
Surprisingly there are people – mostly in marketing it seems – who take this question very seriously and go to some expense and trouble to find definitive answers. So, according to a survey conducted by Forbes Health/OnePoll, the most common New Year’s resolutions for 2024 are: Improved fitness (48%); Improved finances (38%); Improved mental health (36%); Lose weight (34%); Improved Diet (32%). Clearly there is a focus on self-improvement that some companies want to cash in on.
But what caught my attention was more the report from Forbes Advisor that geographically, the least enthusiastic goal setters for 2024 in the UK are apparently in Glasgow: just 19% of people. I wondered whether that reflected a fatalism which questions the point of making commitments that you know you’ll have abandoned by the end of January or simply: “I cannae be bothered!” So, since I live in a Glasgow postcode, I decided to make my resolutions in the Glasgow spirit. And here they are: “I hereby resolve to – Know nothing. Do nothing. Take nothing.”
And there’s sound theological reasoning behind each one. ‘I resolve to know nothing’ … except Jesus. This resolution puts me in company with the apostle Paul: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2). ‘I resolve to do nothing’ … without Jesus. After all, He tells us clearly, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). ‘I resolve to take nothing’ … but trust in Jesus. When He sent His disciples two-by-two ahead of Him as witnesses, he instructed them to, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.” (Mark 6:8). They were to trust Him in the journey ahead. The only thing they could take with them was their trust in Him.
I commend these resolutions to us all as worthy of consideration! Just don’t say, “I cannae be bothered.”