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There is something about New Year’s Day that makes us optimistic. Even though it is just another day, it signals a new start. We feel confident and many of us resolve to make changes in our lives and do things differently in the new year. Gyms are crowded with new members. The fruit and vegetable sections of the supermarket witness greater traffic while the wine and beer aisle is less populated. Perhaps we will even see an increase in church attendance the very next weekend!
We all know what tends to happen sooner or later to the new start we made on New Year’s Day. A Forbes Health/One Poll survey (read here) found that the average resolution lasts just 3.74 months. In fact, quitting New Year’s resolutions is so common that there are even semi-official days for doing so. For example, some hold that January 17 is “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day” and others cite the second Friday in January as “Quitter’s Day” (Ibid.)
God has given each of us an incredible new start in our Baptism. Paul reminds us that God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). And as a baptized child of God, you can eagerly anticipate a never-ending existence in God’s presence where He is “making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
Finally, how fortunate for us that our eternal salvation does not depend on the strength of our resolve or upon our ability to persevere — we who struggle to keep our own resolutions. Instead, our eternal salvation relies on God’s faithfulness and His continuing work in us through Word and Sacrament.
When it comes to God and His work in us, there is no “Quitter’s Day.” That is why Paul can state with such certainty, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
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