Many of us begin a new year by making resolutions. A new year feels like a fresh start – an opportunity to improve ourselves in some way.

Maybe it’s losing those pounds that crept on while working from home in your pajama pants during COVID. Or maybe you’ve decided that this will be the year that you finally end a bad habit or develop a good one. Whether you’re determined to run a half marathon or achieve a goal that’s been on the back burner, a new year for many equals another chance.

Since we’re almost two weeks into the new year, some have already given up on their resolutions. Maybe you decided to stop eating sweets. But when your coworker brought her amazing cookies into work to share with everyone, you couldn’t resist. Or maybe you had resolved to work out every day. After missing one day, then two, you feel like a failure.

Our spiritual walk with God can be like that. You decide that you’re going to read your Bible every morning. A few days or a week goes by, and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. But then you wake up late one morning and don’t have time to do your devotions. The days you did well don’t matter to you anymore. The only thing you can focus on is what you didn’t do.

Let’s make one thing clear – that self-condemnation you feel is not from God.

God doesn’t love you any more or any less because you did or didn’t read His word. God’s love for us is not based on our works. We can’t earn His love. When we were at our worst, God loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die for our sins so we could be forgiven (John 3:16).

Of course, God wants us to be closer to Him and do the things He’s asked us to do. But we can’t do those things in our own strength. We need God’s help. Only God can help us to live holy lives – ones that are set apart for Him.

Instead of coming up with resolutions on your own, a better way is to seek God, asking Him what He wants you to change.

As you read the Bible, God will reveal to you the things in your life that He wants you to do or stop doing. When He shows you something, the best course of action is to agree with God and do the things He wants you to do, in the way He wants you to do them.

Daniel did just that. When Daniel was a young man, he was taken captive by the Babylonians. They wanted to indoctrinate the young Jewish men into their culture so they could serve in the king’s palace. The Babylonians gave Daniel a new name, taught him the “language and literature of the Chaldeans,” and offered him “a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank” (Daniel 1:3-7 (NKJV)).

Daniel was an Israelite – a group of people who had been set apart for God. God had given the Israelites guidelines about what they should and shouldn’t eat (see e.g., Leviticus 11). Daniel knew how God wanted him to live. He had been taught that God didn’t want him to eat certain things.

It must have been tempting to eat the king’s delicacies and to drink the king’s wine. Daniel was far away from home. He was no longer around his family. He could have justified trying the new foods and drink since he now had to survive in a new culture, a new way of life. Daniel could have decided that it wouldn’t really matter if he continued to follow God’s commands.

But instead of giving into temptation,

“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank” (Daniel 1:8 (NKJV)).

Daniel was determined to follow God. He made a choice to please God.

Then Daniel took action. He not only made the decision to follow God’s commands, he acted on that decision. The Bible tells us that “he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” and proposed a plan (Daniel 1:8, 10-13 (NKJV)).

We know that God was pleased with Daniel’s choice to honor Him. The Bible tells us that “God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs” (Daniel 1:9 (NKJV)). God went before Daniel and prepared the way for Daniel to be successful.

Like He did for Daniel, God will prepare the way before us when we choose to honor Him and do the things He’s asked us to do. God will help us every step of the way. God has given us everything we need to live a Christian life.

• God’s “divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)).
• The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside the believer (Romans 8:11).

The Holy Spirit will help us do the things that God wants us to do.

So put aside your own resolutions – the ones you came up with on your own. Seek God and His will for one thing that He wants you to change this year. When He reveals it to you, make a decision – purpose in your heart like Daniel did – to do whatever God shows you.

Then act on it. Take a step in the direction of the change, asking God for strength as you step out in faith. God will empower you through His Holy Spirit. Each day, renew your decision and rely on God for help as you walk by faith with Him.