The Religiosity of Resolutions

This is the most religious time of the year. We commit to schedules, offer up our finances, tithe our time, fast from things, pick mantras, and prize self-denial. 

We call our worship “resolutions.” 

Every New Year, you can see in every human heart a desperation for a fresh start. #newyearnewme reveals a desire for new identity. People long for this to be “their year,” and they hope they can name it and claim it.  And particularly in resolutions, we have the desire to discipline ourselves for some greater hope.

All of this religious behavior is done by us, for us–well, an us that’s skinnier, that wakes up earlier, that drinks green smoothies or lifts more weight or is a more kind, patient person. The object of our hope is… ourselves. 

We aren’t surprised, then, when we fail.  

We know ourselves better than we like to admit. We know, deep down, that we are capable of more–and that, simultaneously, we don’t have what it takes to get ourselves there. No amount of effort is quite enough–but we still feel compelled to try.

So we choose between two options that I like to call: Pessimism or Puffery. 

Now, immediately, I know you’re probably puzzled by this word choice. Isn’t the opposite of Pessimism… Optimism? What is Puffery?

But I think Pessimism and Optimism both connote circumstances, so they are, in a sense, not true opposites. “Puffery” is a weirder word, but it is the best word I can think of for the mentality behind a lot of New Year’s resolutions; it isn’t just optimism that the world will be good, but optimism in ourselves and our own abilities. It’s puffing ourselves up, inflating our self-value, believing in our own ability to control our destiny, while Pessimism sees the world as hopeless, in part, because it is out of our hands.

When we choose Pessimism, we seek to outwit our own hope in order to avoid disappointment. When we choose Puffery, we seek to outmaneuver our own shortcomings to avoid shame. 

Pessimism drowns out hope with sardonic laughter. Puffery drowns out the world with self-reliance. Pessimism says, “It doesn’t matter anyway,” and Puffery says, “If I can dream it, I can do it!” Pessimism shows you only the things you understand, and Puffery shows you only what you want to hear. 

Year after year, as we face the new beginning implied in January 1, we become very religious towards ourselves. And unless we change the object of our faith, we face this choice: Do we look at the coming year with Pessimism? Or Puffery? 

But what if we changed the object of our faith? 

Christianity is fundamentally a move to do exactly that. 

Consider this famous image from the Bible, in 2 Corinthians 14: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.” 

Pessimism would say: “We are, after all, just dust from the earth. Life is hard, and we can’t expect too much from ourselves; we know the world is a messed-up place and it takes its toll, so better to release ourselves from agonizing over it.” 

Meanwhile, Puffery boasts: “We are TREASURES! We are more powerful than we know! We never give up, no matter what; we just need to claim the kind of life we want. We deserve it! Especially if we dig a little deeper and we reach a little higher this time!” 

Neither voice can be dismissed; but both are incomplete. The world is out of our control, and we are weak in the face of it, and yet we have worth and should pursue our innate “calling” to make something of ourselves. 

But the original passage is able to hold all these truths in tension–because crucially, it provides an external source of hope. It isn’t up to us!

It says we are jars of clay–perhaps common, and fragile, but formed purposefully, artistically, by some external hand. We are filled with some foreign treasure that gives us great value. We survive immense hardship by an external “all-surpassing” strength. 

Not Puffery. Not Pessimism. But a Potter is the key to the new identity we long for.

In fact, 2 Corinthians goes on to say: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 

So Christians hear “#newyearnewyou” and respond with a resounding “in Christ.” 

Do you tend to listen more to Puffery, Pessimism, or a Potter in your own life?

How do you long to be a new creation in 2023?