But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No” be “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
— James 5:12
In our text, the Apostle James reminds his readers not to take oaths. He is echoing the teaching of his elder brother, Jesus, who said nearly the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount:
Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.” But I say to you, do not swear at all…
— Matthew 5:33–37
Swearing and oath-taking are unnecessary for an honest person. If a man is known to be truthful, his word alone is sufficient. Habitual swearing often reveals that one’s word has not been reliable in the past. When credibility is weak, people reach for oaths to prop it up. But for the Christian, our word is meant to stand on its own. When we say something, we mean it—and we follow through—even when doing so is costly.
Yet there are times when we make promises we sincerely intend to keep and still fail. These are often promises about changing ourselves. All of us—especially Christians who desire to be like Christ—eventually encounter something in ourselves we want to change. We resolve to do better, only to discover that we cannot carry it through. So we try harder. We promise ourselves that this year will be different. We make New Year’s resolutions.
We join the gym, write down goals, tell friends about our plans. We want to lose weight, break habits, or become more disciplined. Yet these efforts rarely last. I believe this is because change was never meant to happen that way—especially for Christians. If it did, we could claim the credit. God, instead, has a better way. He changes us by His power when our focus shifts away from ourselves and onto His Son.
New Year’s Resolutions
Over the years, I have watched many people become excited about goals they were unable to maintain. I have also been one of them—making bold promises about personal change, only to fall back into familiar patterns.
My wife and I once watched The Biggest Loser. Contestants worked hard and lost significant weight, yet many struggled to maintain those changes once the structure was gone. We have all seen the same pattern in other areas of life: people trying to quit smoking, drinking, or other controlling habits—sometimes succeeding for a season, only to relapse.
Scripture describes this struggle clearly in Romans 7. The Apostle Paul, disciplined and zealous even before his conversion, describes an inward conflict he could not overcome by willpower alone:
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
— Romans 7:15 (NIV)
This is a universal experience. We promise ourselves that things will be different in the new year. Sometimes we make progress for a while, but eventually temptation exposes the weakness of the flesh, and we fall again.
Peter provides a sobering example. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter boldly declared that even if everyone else abandoned Christ, he would not:
“Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
— Matthew 26:33 (NIV)
When warned again, he intensified his promise:
“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
— Matthew 26:35
Yet when pressure mounted, Peter did the very thing he swore he would never do—denying Christ with oaths and curses:
Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!”
— Matthew 26:74
We have all been Peter in one way or another. So the question remains: How does real change happen?
How True Change Happens
True change happens when God does the work. Our mistake is trying to make ourselves into someone—imagining the person we want to be and striving to achieve it. Often those desires are sincere and even noble. But we miss a foundational truth: we are not called to make ourselves who we want to be, but to allow God to make us who He wants us to be.
God has designed us to fail apart from Him. This is not cruelty—it is mercy. Self-sufficiency breeds pride, and pride destroys everything it touches. Nations collapse under it. Families fracture because of it. Souls are lost by it. God would rather allow repeated failure than permit us to succeed in a way that leads to pride and ruin.
At times, rapid success itself can be a form of judgment—not because success is evil, but because it can inflate the heart. Pharaoh is a clear example:
For this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you…
— Exodus 9:16
Pharaoh ruled the greatest empire on earth and believed himself divine. Many would envy such success, yet God permitted it only to demonstrate His power through Pharaoh’s downfall. This is why we must never envy success or assume it signals God’s approval.
I once knew a pastor who experienced extraordinary growth almost overnight. Churches multiplied, attendance exploded, and influence expanded rapidly. Yet the foundation was unstable, and the eventual fall erased far more than the success ever built. This is not shared to discourage faithfulness or ambition, but to warn against trusting in ability rather than dependence.
Nebuchadnezzar learned the same lesson:
“Is not this great Babylon, that I have built… by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
— Daniel 4:30 (NKJV)
That same hour, his kingdom was taken from him.
God will not allow flesh to boast in His presence. Success apart from Him is often failure wearing impressive clothes.
Refocusing Our Effort
So how do we change? By allowing God to do what we cannot.
First, we must understand that God is not in the business of quick fixes. He can rescue instantly, but He shapes character over a lifetime. As long as we live, we are being conformed to Christ.
Second, we must shift our focus from self-improvement to Christ-following. Jesus did not tell His disciples to strive harder. He said:
“Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
— Mark 1:17 (NKJV)
He did the making. They did the following.
When we focus on where we want to be rather than on whom we are following, we drift into pride or discouragement—pride if we succeed, discouragement if we fail. Instead, we should have one aim: to follow Christ more closely today than we did yesterday.
Paul expressed it this way:
…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the prize…
— Philippians 3:13–14
And the prize?
That I may know Him…
— Philippians 3:10
Paul measured success not by accomplishment but by closeness to Christ. That is why he could say:
“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”
— 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV)
Conclusion
This New Year, we need only one resolution: to follow Christ.
This does not mean passivity or indifference. It means refocusing our effort. Discipline and intention matter—but they must flow from dependence, not self-reliance. The closer we walk with Christ, the more we are changed by being near Him.
I once struggled greatly with weight. Today I weigh less than I have in years—not because I made weight loss my goal, but because I made Christ my focus. I began walking while praying. Fitness became a byproduct, not a pursuit.
That is the heart of this message. We often make side effects into goals and goals into idols. We try to manufacture change rather than positioning ourselves where God transforms us.
So this year, don’t promise God what you will become.
Follow Christ—and let Him decide.
That is the only resolution that lasts.
Hal Chaffee Ministries 