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“Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.” (Haggai 1:5,ESV)
I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago. Like many, I would set out with lofty goals and never see them through to completion. Rather than face the discouragement of broken resolutions, I found it easier to just not make any to begin with.
However, I usually run across this article (https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-questions-to-ask-at-the-start-of-a-new-year) from Donald Whitney, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, every January which causes me to consider my ways. In the article Dr. Whitney provides ten questions which I believe are good to help us reflect on spiritual progress and how we are using our lives in service of our Savior. The ten questions (there are actually 31) are designed to encourage us to reflect on our lives and to consider the ways in which we are living in light of eternity.
The questions are:
1) What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2) What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3) What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4) In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5) What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6) What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7) For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8) What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9) What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10) What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
As you look at these questions, what sticks out to you the most? Which of these questions will help you shape your life for greater service for the Lord?
It is good for us to consider our ways so that we live our lives in the presence of the Lord with intentionality rather than to drift along.
May your new year bring you many blessings as we seek to serve the Lord together.
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