A new year is upon us; many people make resolutions to better themselves. Eat healthier, exercise more, read more, write more, learn a new instrument…the potential positive resolutions are numerous. There are, of course, more important resolutions than these. Children of God should be continually examining themselves spiritually and resolving to be better, not just at the beginning of the calendar year.

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14, “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.”

Paul recognized that he still had work to do. He knew he could be better, live better, serve better. Christians today should realize that we, too, must continue to “press toward the goal” as long as we have breath in us. We cannot allow our past mistakes and forgiven sins to hold us back, rather “forgetting those things that are behind” (the failures of 2016) “and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (the opportunities that await us in 2017 and beyond).

Can you resolve each morning that you wake up to be better than you were yesterday? Live better than you did yesterday? Serve better than you did yesterday?