Christian New Year's resolutions: 10 ideas rooted in Scripture, and a realistic plan for your first 30 days

Good Christian New Year's resolutions are small, specific and held humbly. Pick one or two areas, such as Bible reading, prayer, church, your phone, your money or your words, tie each to a verse, and write a first step you can do in 10 minutes. Start with "If the Lord will" (James 4:15), and plan for the day you slip.

Lists of resolutions for Christians are everywhere in late December. Most give you a good idea ("pray more," "be generous") and then stop. This guide gives you ten ideas, but the point is what comes after: how to write a resolution you'll still be keeping on February 1, 2027, and what to do in each of the first four weeks.

January 1, 2027 is a Friday, and the first Sunday of the year is January 3. That gives you a soft start: two days to begin before your first Sunday at church.

Are New Year's resolutions biblical?

The Bible never mentions January 1 or New Year's resolutions. It does show believers making settled decisions about how they'll live, and it shows God caring about how they make them.

Daniel is the clearest example. Taken to Babylon as a young man, he decided ahead of time what he would and wouldn't do:

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Notice two things. He "purposed in his heart" before the test came, and then he took a practical step: he asked for permission and proposed a ten-day trial (Daniel 1:12). His resolve had a plan attached. You can read the whole account in Daniel and his friends in Babylon.

The psalmist speaks the same way: "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments" (Psalm 119:106). Jesus himself tells us to count the cost before building a tower (Luke 14:28), and Proverbs says "the thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness" (Proverbs 21:5).

There are two cautions, though. The first is about pride in our plans:

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

James isn't against calendars. He's against planning as if your life were in your hands. The second caution is about promises. "Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay" (Ecclesiastes 5:5). A resolution isn't a vow to God, so don't phrase it like one. Say "I plan to," not "I swear to God I will."

Erik Raymond makes a similar point at Ligonier: Christians may make resolutions, but they don't have to, and they should watch for self-improvement that pushes out dependence on God. Growth in godliness is the Spirit's work in you. Self-control ("temperance") is listed as fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), not as a reward for willpower.

So, are they biblical? A humble, specific plan to walk with God more closely fits Scripture well. A list of promises to fix yourself by February doesn't.

How to write a resolution you'll keep

Most resolutions fail because they're wishes. "Read my Bible more" doesn't tell you what to do at 7:15 on a Tuesday morning. Use this four-part sentence:

If the Lord will, starting ___ (date), I will ___ (one action) at ___ (time and place), and on a bad day I'll still ___ (minimum).

Here's what that looks like:

The "bad day" line is the most important part. It's what keeps one missed morning from turning into a dropped resolution. Our guide on how to stay consistent reading the Bible goes deeper into minimum days and catch-up slots.

If Bible reading is one of your resolutions, the app can carry the plan for you: you pick 1 to 5 chapters a day, and it keeps the calendar and your streak.

Quick quiz: James

To whom does James address his letter?

To the strangers scattered abroadTo the twelve tribes which are scattered abroadTo the seven churches which are in AsiaTo the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse

According to James, what does the trying of faith produce?

WisdomRichesPatienceKnowledge

To what does James compare someone who hears the word but does not put it into practice?

A man looking in a mirrorA tree with no fruitA lamp under a basketA fountain with no water

Continue the quiz

There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.

10 Christian New Year's resolutions, each with a verse

Read through these and circle one or two. Each has a passage to memorize or pray, and a first step small enough to start this week.

1. Read the Bible every day

נ NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

A daily reading habit feeds every other resolution on this list. Start with one chapter a day. If you'd like dates and levels, our New Year Bible reading challenge starts on January 1 with the Gospel of John, and the 2027 Bible reading plan covers the whole year.

First step: Decide your time and place tonight, and put your Bible there.

2. Pray at a set time and place

Jesus told his listeners to go into a "closet," shut the door and pray (Matthew 6:6). For you, that might be a parked car or a walk around the block. Mark 1:35 says Jesus himself rose "a great while before day" and went to a solitary place to pray.

First step: Write the names of three people on a card and pray for them for five minutes, three times this week.

3. Commit to a local church and a small group

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The New Testament assumes Christians belong to a church family, not just a streaming service. If you moved this year and never settled anywhere, this may be your most important resolution.

First step: Go on Sunday, January 3, and go back on January 10. Ask about small groups on the second visit. If your group is looking for something to study, our four-week New Year Bible study for small groups is built for January.

4. Memorize one verse a month

Twelve verses in a year is very doable, and it gives you Scripture to pray when you don't have a Bible open. The New Year Bible verses guide has a month-by-month list.

First step: Write Lamentations 3:22-23 on your lock screen for January.

5. Use your phone on purpose

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16). Psalm 101:3 adds, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." This isn't about guilt over screens. It's about who gets your first and last minutes of the day.

First step: Charge your phone outside your bedroom for the first week of January, and open your Bible before any app in the morning.

6. Give first, and cheerfully

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Paul doesn't set a number here. He says to decide ahead of time ("as he purposeth in his heart") and give gladly. Proverbs 3:9 talks about honoring the Lord "with the firstfruits," meaning off the top, not from what's left.

First step: Choose an amount you can give to your church from your first paycheck of 2027 and set it up before the money gets spent.

7. Guard your words

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying" (Ephesians 4:29). James adds, "let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19). Our words include comments, texts and group chats. Read the book of James in January if this is your resolution; it's only five chapters.

First step: Before you post or send anything heated this month, wait one hour.

8. Rest without guilt

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Jesus told his tired disciples, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). Working until midnight isn't a sign of faith. Sleep is a gift God gives "his beloved."

First step: Pick a weekly half-day with no work email, and a bedtime you keep on weeknights.

9. Take care of your body, for the right reason

"Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20). Paul also keeps it in proportion: "bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things" (1 Timothy 4:8). Exercise has some value, and godliness has more. A fitness resolution is fine. Just don't let it become the one you take most seriously.

First step: Pair a walk with a sermon or a prayer list twice a week.

10. Be ready to share your faith

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Being ready means knowing how you'd explain, in your own words, what Jesus has done for you, and saying it "with meekness and fear," not as an argument to win. For many people the first step is an invitation, not a speech.

First step: Write your story in five sentences: before Christ, how you came to faith, and what has changed. Then pray for one friend by name every day in January.

Your first 30 days: a week-by-week January plan

Resolutions usually fail in week two or three, when the novelty is gone. Plan for that now.

Every Sunday in January, take two minutes to ask: Did I do it? What got in the way? What will I change this week? Keep your answers in one place. If you journal with the SOAP method, add a line about your resolution at the end of one entry each week.

For the review on January 31, ask yourself:

1. Which resolution did I keep most often, and why did it work?
2. Where did I keep slipping? Was the goal too big, or the time wrong?
3. What did God show me in Scripture this month that I didn't expect?
4. What's my one adjustment for February?

If reading the Bible is your main resolution, the app adds a short quiz after each reading so you can see what actually stayed with you by the end of January.

What to do when you break a resolution

You will miss a day. Probably in the first two weeks. That's not the end of anything.

Peter denied Jesus three times, and Jesus restored him with three questions by the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1, 15-17). Paul, near the end of his life, still wrote "I count not myself to have apprehended" and kept "reaching forth unto those things which are before" (Philippians 3:13). Starting again is what faithful people do.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Three practical rules help:

• Don't restart the clock. You don't go back to day 1. You just do today.
• Don't double up for a week. Doing three chapters to "catch up" makes you more likely to quit. Do today's reading and add one extra on your catch-up day.
• Shrink, don't scrap. If 20 minutes of prayer isn't happening, make it five. A smaller resolution you keep is worth more than a big one you abandoned.

And remember what your resolutions can't do. They don't earn God's love or make you more saved. Salvation is "by grace" "through faith" (Ephesians 2:8). Resolutions are a way of responding to grace you already have, and God is the one who finishes the work: "he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

If you'd like to begin the year with Scripture before you write anything down, start with our New Year devotional for young adults, or the shorter New Year's Eve devotional from Psalm 90 on December 31.

Frequently asked questions

What are good Christian New Year's resolutions?

Good Christian New Year's resolutions are specific and small: read one chapter of the Bible a day, pray five minutes at a set time, join a church small group, memorize one verse a month, give first from each paycheck, or charge your phone outside your bedroom. Pick one or two, attach a verse to each, and write a minimum you can keep on a bad day.

Is it biblical to make New Year's resolutions?

The Bible doesn't mention New Year's resolutions, but it shows believers making firm decisions, like Daniel, who "purposed in his heart" not to defile himself (Daniel 1:8). James 4:13-15 allows plans as long as we say "If the Lord will." Resolutions fit Scripture when they're humble, specific and rely on God's grace, not on willpower alone.

What Bible verse is good for New Year's resolutions?

James 4:15, "If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that," is the best verse for writing resolutions, because it keeps your plans humble. Proverbs 16:3, "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established," works well as a prayer over your list. Lamentations 3:22-23 helps on the days you slip.

How many resolutions should I make?

One or two. Each new habit takes attention, and a long list usually means none of them get done well. Choose the resolution that would make the biggest difference to your walk with God, often daily Bible reading or prayer, and add a second only if the first is going well by February 1.

What should I do if I break my resolution in January?

Do your minimum the very next day, and don't restart from day one or try to catch up all at once. Shrink the goal if it's too big. Peter was restored after denying Jesus (John 21:15-17), and God's mercies are "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). Missing a day is normal. Quitting after one miss is the real danger.

What are good spiritual goals for 2027?

Good spiritual goals for 2027 include reading the whole New Testament or the whole Bible, praying daily for specific people, joining a small group, memorizing 12 verses, and sharing your faith with one friend. Make each goal measurable, break it into a weekly step, and review it at the start of every month.