A few days ago I came across the written thoughts of a young Christian who took issue with the idea of making New Year’s resolutions, at least with regard to a person’s efforts to serve his Lord.
He made some good points, emphasizing that we should resolve today and every day to serve God acceptably. This, of course, is true. I certainly would not suggest that anyone wait until January 1st before beginning an effort to serve God. (If you do that today, you would be waiting for 360 days!)
However, the first month of the year remains as good a time as any to take stock of your spiritual standing, and to determine to do better than you have in the past. With that in mind, I would encourage you to consider what you did last year in the following areas, and to contemplate what you could do to improve in 2013:
- Making prayer a habit. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
- Reading and studying God’s word (Psalm 1:1-2)
- Diligently attending worship (Hebrews 10:24-25)
- Achieving focus and zeal in worship (John 4:24)
- Expressing interest in brethren (Philippians 2:4)
- Walking with Love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
- Placing Christ first in life (Galatians 2:20)
- Sharing the faith with others (1 Peter 3:15)
- Living a transformed, holy life (Romans 12:1-2)
- Practicing benevolence (James 1:27)
- Practicing hospitality (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9)
Surely each of us, no matter what efforts we have made in the past, can do better this next year as we seek to serve our Lord!
