The new year is a great time to take a step back and evaluate how things are going. There are a lot of areas of our lives where we can do this, but none is more important than our spiritual lives.
It’s good to know what we did well, so we can keep going. And it’s good to know where we lacked so we can do better.
There are lots of voices that want to guide us. If you’re trying to lose weight, one person says only eat meat and cut out all carbs. Another person says that all that meat will give you high cholesterol, so you need to eat way more veggies, and only fish. And still another voice says forget both of them- everything in moderation.
Where we get our advice is really important. Paul has thoughts about this in 2 Cor. 8:9-10 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (10) And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.”
His advice is based on the fact that we should keep in mind that Jesus gave up everything to give us everything. That should be the motivation for us wanting to do better than we did last year.
He’s also fully aware that if we only focus on our positives, or what we did/do well, we get a skewed perspective of ourselves.
Paul was a big fan of keeping his ego in check, as we see in Philippians 3:7-8.
(7) But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. [8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (9) And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (10) That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
In order to become more like Jesus, I have to stop looking so much at me, in the sense that “I’m good. I’ve done xyz.” Instead, we can recognize and thank God for those gifts, talents, opportunities, but always make sure our focus is on how we can know Jesus better. He counts all his positives as distractions, as loss, so that he can know Jesus and the power of His resurrection…
The section continues:
(13) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (15) Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
He lets go of the past, good and bad. He knows he has not reached some spiritual peak where he’s done trying harder. He keeps moving forward.
You did some great things last year? Great! That was last year. Keep pressing forward. If you are mature in Christ, you will keep this in mind. And if something distracts you, God will let you know what it is.
So there are some steps we can take to improve.
– Ask the Lord, seriously, what areas in your life need improvement. Paul says if we are distracted, the Lord can show us. So the first thing to do is ask the Lord areas we need to improve.
– Ask someone else you trust. If you’re married, ask your husband if he feels like you support him, that you believe in him. Ask your close friends or family members if your words are sometimes harsh. Really listen and hear what they’re saying, and determine not to be offended.
Back to 2 Corinthians…
2 Corinthians 8:11-12
(11) Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. (12) For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
We have the desire to change, that’s the readiness to will. But sometimes that’s as far as we get. We want to change, but we never do it. Paul is saying “Okay now, get busy!”
And that starts with having an open mind to feedback. Not only from the Lord and what He reveals to us, but also from the people around us that we love and spend time with. That’s why we have to determine not to be offended.
Verse 12 gives us cause not to be discouraged, because if we keep an open heart and willing mind to change, then God will fill in the gaps with grace. We give our best, and the results are up to God. We just have to be willing to let Him work in us.
So we can set goals this year. The graphics here are SMART goals. You can read for yourself what that’s about. The more important part is the second image, where the practical application comes in.
We did the “probably/hopefully” exercise in a staff meeting recently, and I adapted it to fit with the SMART goals idea. I loved this!
The “Probably” section means, if you took a moment to think about what people would say about you as a person, as a Christian, what would they PROBABLY say? What would you PROBABLY say?
The “Hopefully” section focuses on what you WANT others to say about you, and what you want to be able to say about yourself. The cool thing is, whatever comes to mind in the “hopefully” section populates our SMART goals for the year.
And since the goals we’re creating (the ones that are spiritual and the ones that are physical) are always to be made with the goal of honoring Jesus, let’s keep two things in mind:
Ask yourself “What have I done today?” for sure. Check in on yourself and see if you’ve met your goals. Keep an eye on the flesh because laziness is so easy to get sucked into.
But also ask yourself “Who have I been today?”, because meeting our goals is great, but not at the expense of relationships, or serving others, or being like Jesus.
If you set a goal to walk 10,000 steps per day, that’s awesome. But if in order to do that you rush through a conversation with someone in your home or life that really needs you, so you can go get 1000 more steps in before bed, you’re missing the point entirely.
Who you are while you accomplish your goals is much more important than checking the box that you did it. It is a hollow accomplishment if you’ve compromised your character, or limited the ways God wants to use you because you focused too much on “getting things done”.
Let’s do our very best this year to make SMART goals, and accomplish them for God’s glory, becoming who He wants us to be! I am excited about this, and already see God helping me do better. I’m looking forward to meeting His goals for my life in 2025!
Of Faith & Fortitude 
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