Most New Year’s Resolutions end up like most New Year’s Eve concert performances – fake.  

Seriously. Watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve tonight to see the ball drop and count how many artists actually perform live. You won’t need more than one hand.

We can all agree that Dick Clark was a saint, but pawning off blatantly lip-synched performances as an incredible treat to watch was not his finest quality. Unfortunately, most of our resolutions have the same hollow quality as a prerecorded Katy Perry song.

Look, you’ve probably read your fill of New Year’s blogs by now. Seems like every year more and more people are deriding the idea of a New Year’s Resolution.

Every writer has a statistic backing up their bulletpoints on how most resolutions never make it into February. I read a blog by Jon Acuff the other day where he said, “Waiting until January 1st to do something awesome is stupid and fake.”

I’m a huge fan of Jon, but I’m on the other side of the fence here. I am an avid supporter of New Year’s Resolutions.

While there’s certainly no need to wait for a particular date to resolve to change your life, I think the dawning of a new year is the perfect opportunity to reflect on life. With the right foundation, New Year’s Resolutions can actually become quite achievable.

As someone who’s had success with resolutions in the past, I’d like to offer you the one key to making your resolution work this year.

It’s quite simple really – a blink and you’ll miss it statement found in the final book of the Old Testament, Malachi.

God is giving Malachi a message, calling His people to make a resolution and return to Him. In doing so God tosses us the key to solving our resolution problems:

For I am the Lord, I do not change… (Malachi 3:6)

The solution to having a successful resolution in 2013 is not in believing that you can change. The solution is believing that God can change you because He does not change.

Let’s be real here: At some point your resolution will fail. I made 7 resolutions last year. I totally nailed 3 of them. 1 of them I had a physical setback that never quite healed up. 1 of them I partially achieved. But 2 of them I completely whiffed on.

The thing is, at some point all of my resolutions morphed and evolved as the year progressed. A lot happened in 2013. My priorities in life shifted. I added new resolutions while others lost importance.

There is no shame in failing at your resolutions or revising them as the year progresses.

Your life will change as 2014 moves along. If it doesn’t then you’re not really living.

The key to maintaining the goals you have is to know that as much as life changes, God never does. He is the constant rock amidst the never ceasing river of life.

If you want to keep your resolution in 2014, build it upon the foundation of the Lord. Know God wants you to grow and will support you when you fumble and fail.

Get back up. Keep doing the work and find your peace in the God whose love for you is consistent through each day.

There are many good arguments out there for abolishing the idea of New Year’s Resolutions. Don’t listen to them.

You can change your life. But the change cannot come from you. The only way to change your life is to put your faith in the God who does not change.

How did your resolutions go in 2013? What do you want to change in 2014? How can you move from a hollow resolution to a foundation on the unchanging God?