Beyond The Gym: Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions Through Faith
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The elliptical machine in 69-year-old Bob Stephens’ home gym is stretching its handlebars to hang three coats. A recumbent bike, various weights and a stationary rowing machine complete the 20-by-20-foot room.
Stephens, a Focus on the Family senior public relations representative, said it’s been a few months since he used the room, likely speeding the fact that he fell short of his New Year’s Resolution to lose weight last year.
“I failed at it last year,” Stephens told Baptist Press in December.
This year, after having lost 10 pounds since Thanksgiving, he aims to lose another 15 pounds by June, putting him at 190 pounds for his 6-foot frame. That’s the same thing he weighed in college, as well as a few years back, he told his wife Pati not too long ago.
“I said to her, I weighed the same that I did in college when I was 20 years old,” he recounted. “My wife Pati, she said, ‘Doesn’t look the same, does it?’ And no, it doesn’t. So what I want to do, my ultimate goal is to get to 190 pounds and do that by not losing muscle weight, but losing around the midsection like most guys.”
Fitness and weight loss are among the top resolutions American made in 2024, Forbes Magazine found in a poll of 1,000 adults, with 45 percent of them setting at least three resolutions that year.
But why do we even bother? Stephens suspects it’s because the new year gives us a chance to reset and start anew, to be a new person.
The practice of setting New Year’s resolutions is believed to date to the Babylonians of 4,000 years ago, according to History.com, when the new year began in March. It was a solely pagan practice.
The Babylonians observed a 12-day religious festival of Akitu, crowning a new king or reaffirming their loyalty to the existing king, and making promises to idol gods. Such promises were the first New Year’s resolutions, History.com records.
“If the Babylonians kept to their word, their pagan gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year,” historian and History.com contributor Sarah Pruitt writes. “If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor – a place no one wanted to be.”
That’s not to say that contemporary resolutions are sinful, but Stephens said he has learned from personal experience that Christians would do better to focus on God-driven, measurable goals.
“Well, we try to earn favor through resolutions, maybe, and we forget that God’s love is based on Christ’s finished work, how He surrendered himself for us,” Stephens said. “We’re not going to gain favor with God because we lose weight or we eat more vegetables. Renewing your mind through the word is a way that we can please God ,” Stephens said, citing prayer, meditation, and sharing the Gospel, all practices that surpass surface-level changes.
Ask God what He desires of us in the new year, Stephens suggests. He recommends setting reasonable, measurable goals; remaining humble, choosing goals that will be a blessing to others, trying again when we fall short, staying positive in our efforts and having an accountability partner to help us remain on track.
“We’re going to have failures because we’re human. God acknowledges that. Just don’t get discouraged,” he said. “It takes time to build these habits. Reward yourself and don’t get down on yourself too much if you don’t achieve what you want each and every day.”
Stephens believes that God would be pleased with his desire to lose weight and eat a healthier diet.
“If I want to lose weight, eat healthier and be in better shape, that benefits my family,” he said. “It makes me more upbeat. I’ll be a better partner for my wife, and I’ll live longer for her.
“And I don’t want her taking care of me as we reach old age. I think that is obviously something God would approve of,” he said. “I don’t think God looks at that in a negative way.”
This article has been republished with permission from Baptist Press.
Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.