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The start of a new year is a good time to reflect over the past year and establish goals for the coming year. Did you make commitments about spending more time with God or your family, losing weight, or being more disciplined in your health habits or financial affairs?
We may feel great about how far we've come, but then again, we may feel like we have so far to go. Instead of focusing on what we didn't accomplish, let's focus on how far we've come. Like the saying goes, "I'm not where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be." We are all in process and desire to be better people.
Philippians 1:6 is well known to many and I really like the way it is worded in the Message Version. "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ appears." God WILL finish what He started in you. You may feel sometimes like you take three steps forward and two steps back, but as long as you keep going and don't give up, you will get where you need to be.
You are not a failure as long as you keep trying. We all fail at times, but we are not a failure unless we quit. If we aren't failing at times, we are probably not doing much, because just like a child learning to walk, we will fall sometimes. The great Apostle Paul even admitted he had not arrived. He said in Philippians 3:12-14, "I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out to me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus. I"m off and running, and I'm not turning back. (GNB)
God is willing to work with us and He will not give up on us. Philippians 2:13 says, "God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose." (GNB) He is the one giving us the desire to live for Him and He will keep working with us to make us more like Jesus.
Psalm 138:8 says, "Finish what you started in me, God. Your love is eternal - don't quit on me now." (MSG) In the New American Standard Version this verse says, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me." The Living Bible says, "The Lord will work out His plans for my life."
As we enter 2016, I encourage you to quote this verse often and believe that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. I believe at the end of 2016 you will be able to look back and see you have been on an amazing journey with Jesus and are further along in your walk that you even thought you could be. Happy New Year and God Bless You!