Looking Forward

As we reminisce on the past year, let’s move on and look forward to the future. A New Year presents itself with a fresh start; a new beginning with hope filled opportunities. It is a good habit to write goals for the year in January, realizing some will be met and others prolonged. Like a priority “to do list”, each time you check off something that is done you will have a sense of accomplishment.  Goals are unlike New Year’s resolutions; which are often hasty promises that we just do not keep. In January gyms are full of those who wish to lose weight and need healthy exercise, but by March attendance dwindles and people cancel their memberships. Diet and excersie are always important, but setting spiritual goals in life are vital.

The beginning of a year is a great time to take a serious spiritual inventory of our lives. Are you setting aside a time and place to have personal devotions with the Lord?  Do you read your Bible daily and have a schedule to read through each book? Are you regularly attending a church and fellowshipping with other believers? We should never stand still in our faith, we should move forward into the plans God has for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Bible is God’s Word and it will bring change to our lives; every day we can have a fresh start. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, a transformation takes place in our hearts and our minds are continually renewed (Romans 12:1-2). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We must grow in His grace (2 Peter 3:18) and we must abide in Him (John 15).

The Apostle Paul gave us great advice based off experience from his own life.  He wrote in Philippians 4:12-14: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In this New Year press on, take new steps of faith in serving the Lord, discover your spiritual gifts and use your talents for His glory! Do not dwell on the past, whether you had past glories or great difficulties. This year brings a blank page of a new chapter in your life!

We pray for many blessings in the New Year for all the families attending Calvary Chapel Golden Springs and those listening by radio, as we serve the Lord together in 2016.

C.Wren