So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived! -2 Corinthians 5:17

There is a phrase that often pops up around the new year in regard to making New Year’s resolutions: “New Year, New Me!” The idea is that the new year is an opportunity or perhaps even an obligation to change for the better. People resolve all sorts of things: to learn a new language, to improve their health, to save money, to travel, to end a bad habit or start a good one. 

Since it is rather difficult to sustain change, most resolutions fizzle out before the end of the new month. This is especially true of the great and grand resolutions that would reveal a dramatic change in the ones making them. In fact, the phrase “New Year, New Me” has started to become something of a joke. My favorite humorous commentary on the phrase came in the form of an image. Under the words “Old Me” was a picture of a music staff with an E sharp. Under “New Me” was the same music staff, this time with a F natural. (If you’re not seeing the humor: the notes appear different on the staff, but are actually the same pitch.) Though the presentation changed, the outcome did not.

Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, whether or not you make them, the fact remains that most, perhaps even all of us, can look at ourselves and see things we’d like to change. Perhaps we wish we were more patient, more assertive, more creative, or more in control of ourselves. We might look a bit deeper, more seriously, and see the sin that we tend toward and want to become less selfish, less judgmental, less dishonest, less complacent. And it might very well appeal to us to make resolutions to fix those things, embarking on a step-by-step plan to root out our vices and replace them with virtues.

Has that ever actually worked for you? I mean, really, have you all by yourself worked your way out of sin and into holiness? I didn’t think so.

In the Small Catechism, a book designed to sum up the basics of Christian faith, Martin Luther wrote that it is the duty and delight of the Holy Spirit to forgive sin and “sanctify,” or make holy, all who believe in Jesus Christ. In other words: you cannot root out your sin any more than a dentist could sedate themselves and extract their own rotting tooth. The Holy Spirit does that job, so leave her to it.

Our calling as disciples of Jesus is to live like new creations. As Second Corinthians puts it, the new you is already here because you live in Jesus Christ. The old you, the you of sin and brokenness and every other messed-up thing, is not the you who defines you. In baptism, the Holy Spirit worked in you a death and resurrection, and in each day since, the Holy Spirit has been washing away that old you and giving growth to the new you in their place.

You are made new, not by your resolutions, but by God’s work in you. The old is gone, and the new has arrived!