7 Questions to Guide Your New Year’s Resolutions
Okay, here we are at the end of the year. It’s easy to get derailed by the end of the year and overwhelmed at the prospect of a new year. Everybody is making New Year’s resolutions. But statistically, most of these people are only going to keep these New Year’s resolutions for a week or two, tops.
Right now it would be simple for each one of us to fall into a trap, where we make these huge New Year’s resolutions of goals that we would love to see happen in some sort of dream reality. However we live in the real world, so if you were going to make resolutions or plans, they need to be real… realistic… really real.
The Path to Realistic Resolutions
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t do something big and awesome this year. But, if you’re gonna have a big dream, you gotta have a big plan. You’re not going to accomplish something huge right now. If you are going to do anything (big or small) you need to make a plan and establish steps to follow it all the way through.
What I’m suggesting here is that you need to seriously think through what you want your life to look like a year from now. Do you want to be in the same place that you are right now? What kind of growth do you want to see in yourself this year? It would be a good idea to give some attention to every area of your life and make a serious attempt to live intentionally. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he tells us to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness because it is making us into who we are going to be in eternity. Isn’t that crazy?! Our lives right now should be focused on becoming more and more like Jesus (the Bible uses the phrase “conformed to the image of Jesus”…. pretty cool, right?) (Romans 8:29). So how do we make/help that happen?
Here are seven questions that I am asking myself as we get ready to go into 2020, along with some suggestions to help think through it.
7 Questions to Ask Yourself
- Is there anything that obviously needs to change in my life to make me more like Jesus? (Patience, compassion, generosity)
- Do I have any sins that I know I need to confess to God? Or get accountability with others? (Pride, selfishness, lust, envy)
- Is there anything in my life that I know wastes too much of my time, that I need to get rid of? (Social media, video games, binging Netflix, YouTube)
- How do I want to spend my free time? (Reading, physical exercise, meaningful conversation, serving others)
- How can I love others better? (Intentionally thinking about the needs of others, committing to pray for my friend, family, and non-believers)
- What am I going to do with the Gospel this year? (looking for opportunities to share the Gospel with others, church/youth group involvement)
- What are some realistic goals that I should set to help me be more like Jesus? (Bible study plan, books to read)
Helpful Hints to Keep You Focused
- Remember that God has called you to be like Jesus and He has a specific plan just for you. He has assigned a role for you to play that only you are able to fulfill.
- Don’t be discouraged. Your conformity to the image of Jesus is going to take you the rest of your life. Every day is a new day that the Lord has given you. Don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on today.
- Wake up every day and prepare yourself for this mission that God has called you to, forget the failures of yesterday and commit your day to Him.
- We serve a faithful God who is on your team. Trust in Him.
Resources to Equip You
Looking for a Bible reading plan? Download the Snowbird App and jump in on the year-long reading plan we’ve set up there.
Don’t forget, we’ve also published several favorite reading lists over the past few years—and look for more to come later this month!