The idea behind a New Year's resolution, expressed in phrases such as "I'm giving up . . .," "I'm kicking the habit," and "I'm quitting," is get rid of some vice or bad habit. While the desire to rid life of any vice or to change for God's glory and to please Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9) is certainly biblical, the New-Year's-resolution method promises failure and disappointment. Why? God does not command Christians simply to stop something sinful. Stopping an ungodly habit without doing anything else will not work. Jesus assures us of this in Matthew 12:45, where he tells us that if we clean our houses (referring to our lives) of evil only to leave it vacant, the evil will return sevenfold. It's the old saying, "nature abhors a vacuum".

Paul instructs Christians with life-dominating sins not to stop them, but to replace them with godly behavior, and gives a simple principle that will help to achieve this in Ephesians 4:17-32. The first step after recognizing and confessing a sinful habit in your life is to "put off" (v. 22). This means to stop ungodliness. Here is where the New Year's resolution ends. The Bible continues with the second step, "put on" godliness (v. 24). This "put off/put on" principle is all about stopping behavior that is characteristic of your life before conversion-"the old man"-and starting behavior that is characteristic of your new life in Christ-"the new man".

The principle demonstrates that true, biblical change occurs in a Christian's life only when he becomes the opposite of what he has become known as by his sinful habit. Paul illustrates this in verse 25: "laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another." When is a liar no longer a liar? Be careful how you answer. It is not when he stops lying. We don't know why he has stopped. Perhaps it was to his advantage. Paul's principle says he is no longer a liar when he becomes a truth teller. He has replaced his ungodly habit of lying, which characterized him as a liar, with the godly habit of truth telling to such an extent that he is now known as a truth teller. We find another example in verse 28: "Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need." Here we see that a thief is no longer a thief when he becomes a giver.

Paul has given us a great principle to use in our endeavor to be what we have already become in Christ-perfect. It is far superior to the New Year's resolution. May you find God's grace sufficient as you apply the put off/put on principle this year.