A common question we hear around this time of year is, “What is your New Year’s resolution?”
People’s answers are usually along the lines of, “I want to start working out and eating healthy,” or “I want to work harder at my job or school.” We make goals to make ourselves better in some way.
There are many of us who want to grow their faith, so some New Year’s resolutions we make might be, “I want to grow closer to God,” “I want to read the Bible in a year,” or “I want to share the gospel more.”
These are all great resolutions to have, but there are a few things we should remember as we set goals.
Usually, the New Year’s resolutions people set don’t last very long. I looked up Christmas toasts for a class earlier this year, and one of the toasts was, “May your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.”
People work towards their goals for a week or two… then they lose motivation. I’m pretty sure my family still has a gym membership we don’t use from last year’s New Year’s resolutions.
But we want to meet our goals, especially with faith-based resolutions. Here are some tips to do so.
Set attainable and specific goals.
Goals that are specific are easier to reach. For example, if you say, “I’m going to share the gospel with Steve, Joanne, and Amy this year,” it makes your goal easier to carry out.
If you instead said, “I’m going to witness to three people this year,” the goal would still be reachable, but harder to reach because you have a less specific point to start from. When you have a plan and know exactly what you’re going to do, you’re often more likely to follow through and do it.
I even set daily goals for myself; things like, “Today I’m going to ask Patrick if he goes to church. I set goals not only for my faith, but for other things like writing and swimming.
We should make sure to set goals that we can actually reach. Setting high goals is a good thing because it motivates us, but if we set a goal too high it can actually have the opposite effect. We may end up working less hard because we don’t expect to meet the goal anyway.
We set goals to do new things, but it is Jesus who truly makes us new.
Jesus began to sanctify you and make you more like Him the moment you placed your faith in Him.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Even if we don’t meet the goals we set for ourselves, we can rest in knowing that Christ has made us new and is continuing to make us like Him. One day, we will be made perfect and spend forever with Jesus in Heaven.
Additionally, we can’t reach our goals through our own power. We do so through Jesus’ power.
When we reach our Bible reading goal, it is because we have been motivated by the Holy Spirit. We learn things from Scripture because of the Holy Spirit and Jesus.
Maybe when we do certain things, it seems like we’re doing them on our own, but it is Jesus who makes those things matter.
It is Jesus who hears our prayers. It is He who opens people’s hearts when we share the gospel with them. He is the one who has blessed many of us with an able body so we can serve others. Jesus makes all the difference in the world.
If you make a New Year’s Resolution for 2023, don’t forget to ask for Jesus’ help in reaching it. Your goals and decisions matter because He says they do.