If the Lord delays His coming, we will be celebrating a new year in a few days. In our culture, it is customary to make New Year’s resolutions. In them, we commit ourselves to do something that will make our lives better. It might be to eat more healthy food, lose weight, or spend more time with our family.

Numerous jokes have sprung from this practice. Often, these jokes make fun of how quickly we give up on our resolutions. If we promise to lose weight, for example, we promise to do so “tomorrow,” after we finish the apple pie we’re eating. A few days later, we have another apple pie we have to finish off. After that, we’ll take our resolution seriously.

Sometimes we make unrealistic resolutions. A short, unathletic young man might claim that he’ll become the star basketball player at his high school. His New Year’s resolution is that he will practice five hours every day to make his dream a reality. He doesn’t reach his goal due to impossible time restraints and physical limitations. Such resolutions often reflect a desire to accomplish the impossible.

In Phil 3:10-11, Paul makes a New Year’s resolution. To be honest, I don’t know if he made it during December, or even if that culture had this practice. Nevertheless, it is a resolution. At first glance, it appears that Paul wants to do the impossible.

He resolves to give up everything (v 8) in order to reach his goal. What is that goal? It is lofty indeed. He wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and to have fellowship with His suffering.

We could summarize it this way: He has the goal of knowing Christ more intimately. That would involve the power of the Spirit living through him. This is the power that raised Christ from the dead. Such an experience would invite the hatred of the world, resulting in suffering for the cause of Christ.

Having the resurrected Christ live through you seems even more unlikely than being a star basketball player. Trying to achieve that goal by giving up anything that gets in the way would make it seem that to even try to do this would be fruitless.

But the goal gets even loftier. Paul says this resolution will result in his attaining a “resurrection from the dead.” This is a unique Greek phrase in the NT. There is some disagreement as to what it means. It could mean that Paul wants the rewarding experience of Christ living through him. This would mean that the Lord would produce spiritual fruit while he lived in a body of death—one destined for the grave.

Another way to understand the phrase is that in the resurrection of the dead when the Lord returns, Paul would have a “better” resurrection. He would be greatly rewarded in the world to come if he suffered for the Lord in this life.

Either way, Paul is saying he resolves to live a life that is rewarded by the Lord. Nothing is more important than this goal. What a goal it was! It would take a miracle. Paul wants to see Christ live through him. This would result in a rich entrance into Christ’s coming kingdom, where Paul would rule with the King of Kings.

Many of our New Year’s resolutions are jokes. I remember that when I was young, I resolved that I was going to be a star on the University of Kentucky basketball team. I was not smart enough to know that that was not going to happen.

An interesting thing about Paul’s resolution is that it is even more outlandish than the one I made as a young boy. Having Christ live through us in this life then reigning with Him forever in His kingdom, is infinitely better than playing in the NBA.

The great thing about this resolution, however, is that it is not a joke. It is not impossible. In fact, it is the birthright of every person who has believed in Jesus for eternal life. If we make it our goal and go to the Lord for His grace and power, it will become a reality if we continue to rely on Him.

New Year’s resolutions often fail because they are impossible to attain. The goals are too high. But the highest goal of any believer’s life is to please the Lord and reign with Him forever. The incredible thing is that, through His power, it’s a resolution we can keep. Like Paul, let’s make that our New Year’s resolution.