More Than A Resolution...

There’s a question I want you to carry with you this week:

Is Christ still at the center of my life?

Every year around this time, the world starts talking about New Year’s resolutions. People resolve to eat better, exercise more, save more money, break a bad habit, and become a “better version” of themselves. Some of those goals can be fine. Discipline isn’t condemned in Scripture. Self control is a good thing.

But the deeper issue in every human heart isn’t effort. It’s worship. It’s what we love most, and who governs the center of our lives. That’s why the Christian response to a new year can’t start with a list. It has to start with the Lord. Not just resolution, but renewal.

Paul gives the church a command that’s both sobering and merciful:

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV): ⁵ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test?

That word “examine” isn’t meant to crush sincere believers. It’s meant to rescue drifting hearts. It’s meant to shine light where we’ve grown comfortable. It’s meant to bring us back to what matters most.

Here’s the guiding question again:

Is Christ still at the center of my life?

That’s not a question about being perfect. It’s a question about who rules your heart.

John Wesley And A Missing Center

In May of 1738, John Wesley was already a priest in the Church of England. He was educated, morally serious, disciplined, and devout. And yet, by his own admission, something was missing. He knew about Christ, but he didn’t have assurance. He had religion, but he didn’t have rest.

One evening, he went reluctantly to a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. A writing from Martin Luther was being read, describing salvation by faith in Christ. Later that night, he wrote that his heart was “strangely warmed.” He said he trusted in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and that an assurance was given him that Christ had taken away his sins.

That moment didn’t make Wesley perfect. But it did change his center of gravity. His life took a new direction, not because he made better resolutions, but because Christ was finally at the center.

That story matters because it reminds us of something that’s easy to miss. A person can be serious, respectable, and religious, and still not have Christ at the center.

I. Renewal over resolution

Resolutions usually focus on behavior. They assume the main problem is a lack of effort.

“If I just try harder, I’ll change.”

“If I just commit more deeply, I’ll fix what’s broken.”

“If I just stick to the plan, I’ll become better.”

But for Christians, effort can’t be the starting point, because effort isn’t the root issue. The root issue is always the heart.

Renewal is different. Renewal is about relationship. Renewal is about returning. Renewal is about Christ being central again.

That’s why Scripture doesn’t simply tell us to “try harder.” It calls us to come back.

Isaiah 55:6–7 (ESV): ⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; ⁷ let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Notice the words: seek, call, return. That’s renewal language.

And Paul echoes it when he calls believers to spiritual transformation:

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV): ¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul doesn’t begin with a command to do better. He begins with mercy. Renewal is always a response to what God has already done, not an attempt to earn his favor. That’s why so many resolutions fail. They’re built on willpower, emotion, and a short burst of motivation. When the motivation fades, the change fades with it.

Renewal goes deeper than motivation. Renewal says, “Lord, I don’t just want to act different. I want to love different. I want you back at the center of my life.”

That kind of renewal requires honest self examination, not the kind that produces shame, but the kind that produces clarity.

Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Spiritual drift rarely happens all at once. It happens quietly over time. We get busy. We pray less. We neglect the Word. We make decisions without seeking God’s wisdom. And the dangerous part is that we can still look fine on the outside while Christ slowly moves from the center to the margins.

But renewal is possible because God is faithful.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV): ²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

II. Salvation Leads To Sanctification

If we talk about renewal without grounding it in the gospel, we end up with moralism. We tell people to try harder instead of calling them to trust deeper. Before we talk about a holy life, we have to talk about a saving Lord.

The gospel begins with a truth that humbles every one of us.

Romans 3:23 (ESV): ²³ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We weren’t "mostly good people who needed improvement." We were sinners who needed a Savior. And God did for us what we could never do for ourselves. Jesus lived a sinless life, obeyed in every way we failed, and went to the cross as a substitute for sinners.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV): ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Salvation is received, not earned. Grace is a gift. But the gospel doesn’t end with forgiveness. Forgiveness is the doorway into a new life. Grace saves, and grace trains.

Titus 2:11–12 (ESV): ¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

That training is sanctification. God sets his people apart and shapes them into the likeness of Christ. This doesn’t mean sinless perfection in this life, but it does mean we can’t make peace with sin. We can’t live comfortably in what Christ died to free us from.

Many people want Jesus as Savior but resist Jesus as Lord. They want forgiveness without surrender, rescue without obedience. But Christ isn’t divided. Real salvation produces real change over time.

III. Conviction Leads To Change

If the gospel saves and transforms, then there’s a question we can’t avoid. Is that transformation actually taking place in my life?

That’s why Paul says, “Examine yourselves.” Not to create panic, but to produce honesty. True assurance is strengthened by the light, not threatened by it.

Jesus spoke some of his strongest warnings to religious people who were confident they were fine.

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV): ²¹ Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” ²³ And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

The issue there wasn’t occasional failure. It was relationship. And that’s why self examination matters. We’re not asking whether we’ve ever stumbled. We’re asking whether we’ve ever been transformed.

Jesus also warned a church that had grown comfortable.

Revelation 3:15–16 (ESV): ¹⁵ I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

And he warned another church that had not abandoned truth, but had abandoned love.

Revelation 2:4–5 (ESV): ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

Conviction is not cruelty. Conviction is kindness. It’s God refusing to let us settle for a false peace. But conviction is never the end goal. Change is. Conviction received with humility leads to renewal. Conviction ignored leads to hardness.

So here’s the question one last time:

Is Christ still at the center of my life?

If He is, let this strengthen your joy and steady your walk. Keep growing. Keep submitting every area of life to him. And if you know he’s been pushed to the side, hear this clearly. This isn’t a call to despair. It’s a call to return.

The same Christ who warns is the same Christ who invites. The same Christ who convicts is the same Christ who receives.

Don’t settle for a few better habits without a better heart. Don’t settle for looking Christian without living submitted to Christ. Make this more than a resolution. Make it a renewed surrender.

The mercy is real. The invitation is open. And the time is now.

– Pastor Charley Munro
 Living Grace Church, Tyler, Texas