Happy New Year!

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them and to evaluate their casual spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to coast along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and what we should be doing. We can innocently become so tangled in the trappings of the world that we begin to lose our spiritual momentum.

This is why the New Year is a great time to stop, inspect our lives and set goals for next year. Introspection is a wonderful tool in your spiritual life, where you can evaluate your successes and failures, plan for the future, and commit to deeper communion with Christ. Paul calls believers in 1 Timothy 4:7 “to discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.” The goal of godly discipline is to consistently apply the truths of God’s Word to our daily lives. By doing this, you will be a witness to the world and bring our Lord honor and glory.

I implore you, do not become careless or casual and waste precious opportunities in 2018. Rather use this New Year to “consider your ways,” repent and refocus your mind and heart on Christ and His Word. As you do this, you will find great joy and peace through obedience to Christ’s commands. I pray this exhortation will serve as a spark to encourage and set you on a course to love and good deeds in 2018.

Stephen Webb