The idea behind the New Year’s resolution is to rid ourselves of some vice or bad habit. Speaking from a Christian’s perspective, vices or bad habits are sinful, life-dominating habits, such as gluttony, procrastination, lying, stealing, etc., and it is certainly necessary that we rid ourselves of them. But the New Year’s resolution falls short for the Christian, for it advocates that we simply stop what we are doing.

Interestingly enough, the Bible never instructs us simply to stop a sinful habit and for at least two good reasons.

The first reason is that nature abhors a vacuum. When you remove a sinful practice from your life, you create a big hole. If you don’t fill that hole with something else, the sinful practice comes rushing back in quickly, which explains why certain sinful habits keep recurring. The second reason is that simply stopping a bad habit does not mean one has overcome it. There are many reasons why Christians stop their bad habits: maybe they were caught, or they got too busy, or it was not convenient to continue. The fact of the matter is, people don’t stop being something until that have become something else, which leads me to the Bible alternative to the New Year’s resolution.

Paul calls it "the put off / put on" principle and explains it in Ephesians 4:22 to 24. The idea is to replace a sinful habit that is characteristic of the old man (your unsaved life) with a godly habit that is characteristic of the new man (what you are now in Christ). In this way, compulsive liars stop lying and start telling the truth instead, thereby becoming truth tellers (see v. 25). Those who steal stop and begin giving to the point where they are characterized as givers (see v. 28).

This year, forget about turning over a new leaf or kicking the habit. Put off ungodly practices. Find the corresponding put "ons" and practice them instead. Strive to be what you have already become in Christ - perfect!