I recently conducted my annual “midterm assessment” of my New Year’s resolutions for 2026. Unfortunately, I’m running at about 50 percent. The gym resolution? Not going particularly well. In fact, I haven’t been to the gym in two months. My diet goals? Let’s just say they remain goals. Eeech! Apparently, writing down a resolution does not automatically supply the power to keep it. And I suspect I’m not alone.

Most people who long for change don’t need to be told they need to change. We already know it. We’ve made the resolution. Bought the equipment. Started the diet. Promised ourselves, This time I mean it. Then life happens. Resolve weakens. Old habits return. And eventually we face the uncomfortable question: What happens when trying harder isn’t enough? 
“You can do it!” “It’s all up to you!” Determination. Dedication. Discipline. Desire. Commitment. Go all the way. Play full out. Try harder. Work harder. Make something of yourself. You can do anything you put your mind to!

I’ve heard a lot of motivational speeches over the years, and most of them eventually come down to the same basic message: You. You have the power. You have the potential. You have the will. Dig deeper. Try harder. There’s only one problem. What happens when you’ve already tried?

Most of us who long for change don’t need to be told you need to change. We already know it. Listen to the smoker who says for the hundredth time, “I need to quit.” Listen to the person struggling with the same destructive habit, the same anger, the same fear, the same pattern of failure. They know. The painful conclusion often becomes; I can’t change. I’ve tried. But that admission may not be the end of hope. It may be the beginning. Jesus presented change very differently from the motivational speaker. He preached the Kingdom of God—and He described its transforming power as a seed.

A seed doesn’t stand in the soil straining to become a plant. It receives what it needs. It takes root. It grows. And eventually, it bears fruit. Jesus said:

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” —Mark 4:26–27

There it is— Though he does not know how.

Something is happening beneath the surface that the man himself cannot produce. That’s the mystery of spiritual change. There is an enormous difference between “I am going to change myself” and “God is changing me.” The first depends ultimately upon the strength of my will. The second depends upon the power of His. That doesn’t mean we become passive. Seeds need receptive soil. We listen. We believe. We obey. When we fall, we get back up. We persevere. We remain in Christ. But the power producing the life is not ours. God can change you.

And He does it through the same remarkable instrument by which He brought creation into existence: His Word. Our part is not frantic striving but patient endurance—allowing the seed of His Word to take root and produce its harvest in us. Jesus said: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Maybe we sometimes make His yoke heavier than He intended because we keep adding our own burden to it: Try harder. Do better. Be stronger. Don’t fail again.

There is a difference between striving and yielding. Here is also a difference between giving up and surrendering. Giving up says, Nothing can change me. Surrender says, I cannot change myself—but God can. That’s good news for anyone with a trail of broken resolutions behind them. Maybe you’ve reached the place where you’ve finally admitted, I can’t change. Wonderful. Now you are ready to discover something better: You can be changed. And when the change comes, there is no confusion about who deserves the credit. God does. We simply become grateful recipients of His grace.

God’s way of changing us relies upon His extraordinary strength, not ours. His power. His Word. His Spirit. His life working within us. And unlike that piece of exercise equipment we bought with great determination in January—which by now has become the most expensive clothes rack in the house—God’s invitation does not come with another demand to manufacture more willpower. It comes with willpower already supplied. His.