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This quote describes the way many of us feel when Christmas comes to an end, and the New Year is right around the corner.

The time has come for us to forget the mistakes we’ve made in the past year, and look forward to a new year filled with whole new possibilities!

Have you ever gone into a New Year convinced that the resolutions you make will last? This is the year that I will finally lose weight. This is the year that I will drink more water. This is the year that I will not be stressed.

My name is Joshua MacClaren and I’m an intern at Wellsboro Bible Church. What is your New Years resolution, and how confident are you that you will keep it?

After my first semester of college I was confident that I would keep my resolution to run more. At first, I was running almost everyday, but after a while, I started to make excuses of why I didn’t want to run. It was too cold. I was too tired. I wanted to hang out with friends. Eventually, I stopped running, and my New Years resolution came to an abrupt halt. But I’m not alone.

In an article published by Forbes magazine we learn that the vast majority of us will not keep our New Years Resolution. 92% to be exact!

Why is this the case?

As time goes on, we lose interest in our resolutions. We grow tired of trying to work for change, and we settle for the status quo.

Is there any hope for us to truly change for the better?

Before I share how lasting change is possible, the question should be asked: Why do we want to change in the first place? What is it every year that causes us to make a resolution to be better than the year before?

Deep down we understand we are incomplete.

How are you incomplete? Maybe you’re in debt. Maybe your relationships are crumbling. Maybe you feel like you have no purpose.

What would make your life more complete?

In the Bible, we learn that we are meant to be made complete in Jesus Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the apostle Paul explains that “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

You see friends, we may not be able to keep our resolutions, but God always keeps His. The problem of our sin is at the core of why we are incomplete. But God in His grace has made a way for us to become complete. If we trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, we are made new creatures. We’re made sons and daughters of God. We’re given a New beginning that will last forever.