Once again, it is December 31st. In a few hours we will usher in a new year. The ending of a year and the beginning of the next year affect people in different ways. We should consider and be thankful for the blessings that have come our way in the year that is ending. We should also consider and be thankful that we have gone through trials and come through them to the other side.
So, how should we take note or track how our previous year has gone? One possibility is to find something that stood out in each month. Recently, I received an email from the Google Pixel team. They sent this email to everyone who owns a Google Pixel phone. The email was their year in review and what they did was walk you through some important event that happened with the development of the phone or software technology every month. They talked about certain records they hit and milestones they achieved, even when they released certain updates. It was a simple way to keep track of what had happened in that division over the course of a year.
Tracking Our Physical Journey Through the Year
We can do the same thing when it comes to our life as well. Not only keeping track of the good days, but also showing that sometimes we struggle and require the help of other people. We could highlight our year through photography. I get a regular email from Microsoft OneDrive that has a series of pictures. Sometimes all the pictures of a recent event and other times it is an email with pictures that took place on the same day or week in previous years. Certain patterns in our behavior are remembered and recorded through photography and brought back to memory. What this allows us to do is notice how much we have grown, how far we have come; from sometime in the past to where we are now. No doubt we have had our fair share of bumps, bruises, cuts, and scrapes along the way. Yet, we endured all those trials and difficulties and we are still here. These and other options are available to help us with remembering the events of our physical life.
Evaluating Our Spiritual Progress in 2025
One question we should consider, as we prepare to close out this year and ring in the new, how far have we come in our spiritual life from January 2025 to December 2025? Are there any differences? Is there a pattern of growth? Can we look back over the course of this year and recognize the signs of our faith increasing? Or, when we look back over this year, do we see a decline in our faith? Do we see struggles that have left us in desperate need of comfort and assurance that there is something more, something better, something superior to our current spiritual condition? The wise man Solomon put it this way, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil day come and the yard draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them” – (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
We should be able to track our spiritual condition in some of the same ways we track our physical life. Have you considered noting one increase in your faith each month? Maybe through a topic you study in Bible class or through your own personal Bible study you recognize that your faith has increased. Make a note of it somewhere. Remember the words of Jesus as they are recorded by Matthew, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” [Emp. added NC] (Matthew 7:7-8). These three highlighted words, “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” are imperatives in the original language. They are not stated as suggestions, but instructions that we should follow. If we will but ask, seek, and knock spiritually we will receive, find, and have doors opened for our faith to grow in service to God. Once again, the words of Solomon, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good, or whether evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
There is still time to make dramatic changes to your spiritual condition before we close the book on the year 2025. There is a great deal of emphasis made, this time of year, about “New Year’s Resolutions.” Anymore they seem to be nothing more than wishful thinking, provided everything in your life worked out according to plan, “I will do this…”
Take some time to reflect on your spiritual year that is closing and set some goals for the spiritual year that is about to begin. Decide that you are going to spiritually encourage others and help someone else to grow. Determine in your spiritual walk to shore up the foundation of your faith so the cares of this world cannot erode your faith out from under you. Devote more time, we all waste more time than we realize, to the reading, studying, applying, and sharing of God’s word with friends, family, co-workers, teachers, students, classmates, and troublemakers that we come in contact with in our daily life. Peter says we should, “desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).
2026 is your year! Regardless of how the previous year or years have gone. Now is the time! “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, not is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
