Is self-improvement holy work?
Even in June, making resolutions stress me out. Even the process of pondering how I need to improve provokes my insecurity and leads only to self-recrimination. When I inevitably fail before even a month has elapsed, it leads to even more discouragement and despair.
How does biblical thinking differ from worldly resolution-ing?
For one thing, the motivation behind worldly resolution-ing is suspect. How can we tell that something is amiss? What needs to be improved? How does improvement happen? Is it worked by ourselves, as the term “self-improvement” indicates?
No. Sanctification is summarized neatly in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Question 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
Here we read that sanctification is a work of God’s free grace. His grace renews us in every aspect. We die unto sin and live unto righteousness more and more when we are sanctified.
When self-improvement schemes or resolutions are motivated by fear of failure, or by a desire to impress one another, or (secretly) to try to impress the Lord, then self improvement is hollow at best and idolatrous at worst.
However, the Bible commands us to “make the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16, ESV). It’s not bad to increase productivity, to work toward better health, to be more intentional about free time. What kind of resolution-ing avoids the trap of worldly motivations?
Again, from the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Question 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
To avoid the pitfalls of worldly motivations, I ought to set goals that are in line with the benefits that God is already working in me by sanctification.
As a Christian, my goal-setting flows from a different motivation than the world’s. I am assured that the Lord already delights in me, so I am freed from guilt or fear as I assess my strengths and weaknesses. As a Christian, the very reason I set goals is different. My desire is to obey the Lord and increase in holiness, rather than to pursue foolishness, vanity, or pride. Finally, as a Christian, the goals I set for myself are assessed differently. Rather than pursuing something because it will make me happy, I pursue a goal if it will give my conscience have more peace.
This is just the beginning of redeemed, purposeful, personal improvement plans. Next time, I’ll write more about the Bible’s definition of long-term success. How can we pick goals that are in line with God’s priorities.
Krista lives in Colorado Springs with her godly husband and two teenage sons. She savors language and enjoys the many ways simple words can be crafted—from literature, to clever puns and silly dad jokes, to deep-diving discussions of grammar and linguistics. (Favorite poem: Prayers of Steel by Carl Sandburg; How can you tell when a joke is grown up? When it becomes apparent; Dependable small-talk topic: favorite part of speech.)