Ban New Year's Resolutions

In so many ways, I dislike New Year's Resolutions. My sneaky title was just to get your attention, because people can do what they want and it is good to have some goals. But thinking through this stuff, there are a couple of things that come to my mind about this idea or some common goals.

One that Christians do often is "get closer to God." This one is particularly annoying to me on many different levels. No resolution is worthwhile if you have to ask a follow-up question like, "what does that mean?". Often people will say something like, read their Bible more, attend church more regularly, pray, etc. Those are depressing answers to me. Firstly, I believe the Christ died and was resurrected to make the payment for our sins, or actions that disobey God, and then gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us. If the Holy Spirit (God) is living within us, then we can't get any closer to God than that! What if the goal would be changed to "becoming more like Jesus"? That would be much more practical, and could be broken down easier because there is a definite standard involved. For instance that means you will be less selfish (serve your spouse, forgive easier, put other people's needs ahead of your own, to serve not be served), do something to bring justice to your corner of the world (volunteer at a shelter, tutoring, speaking out against mean jokes, helping an elderly neighbor), and love the unlovable. Not only are these tangible goals, they are meaningful, so no one can complain about and make you into a better person.