Every year a lot of people make New Year’s resolutions.  I’ve never been a fan myself.  If you find there is something in your life that you think you need to change, why not start then?  Why wait until January 1?  But enough complaining, for now.

As the new year begins, each of us should take time to make a careful and insightful evaluation of our lives.  You can do this any day of the year, but let’s just do it today.  Look back at 2023. 

How was 2023?  How were you?  I’m not asking if you were physically healthy, although that would be nice, too.  But how were you?  How did you live your life?  Did you live a godly life?  Were there good times and bad? 

Look at when you were doing well.  Think about how you can do more of the same. 

Look at the bad, too.  How did those bad times happen?  What caused you to be ungodly?  Can you improve?  What can you do to either avoid those situations?  Or if they were some things you just can’t avoid, how can you respond in a more godly way?

Don’t make excuses.  It’s really easy to excuse our actions.  That’s the easy way out.  Don’t take it.  Instead, take a serious look at how you failed and work on it.  Get better.

I’m not suggesting that you can perfect yourself, but you can improve.  We all can.

Look for good examples.  Hopefully, we all have people in our lives who are good examples for us to learn from.  Also, look at some of good examples in scripture.  People are not perfect.  They make mistakes, but we can learn from their mistakes and from their triumphs.

Here are just some of the people who made great decisions:

• Noah(Gen. 6) – In an entirely corrupt world, Noah did what was right. He followed God even when the world around him was constantly evil.
• Abraham(Gen. ) – In a time before GPS, God told him to leave his family and go to a land that Abraham had never been to. He didn’t know anyone who lived there.   He left almost everything just because God told him to.
• Hannah(I Sam. 1-2) – Hannah wanted a child in the worst way. But she did blame anyone(including God).  Instead, she put her faith, hope and trust in Him.
• David(II Sam. 11; Ps. 51) – David made some very bad decisions, but look at his response to one of his worst decisions. He wrote Ps. 51.  He wasn’t perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart.
• Ethiopian Eunuch(Acts 8:26-39) – He knew some things, but didn’t understand what they meant. He asked Phillip, and the rest is history.  We know the Eunuch because he was willing to ask questions because he wanted to know more about God.
• Mary(Luke 10:38-42) – This is Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. At a time when most women would have been doing what her sister Martha was doing, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and just listened to Him.  Sometimes just listening to Him is what we need to do to make better decisions.
• Sinful Woman(Luke 7:36-50) – We don’t even know her name, but we can still see that she made a great decision, even after she had led a very sinful life. She was willing to go to the Pharisee’s home, even though she knew she would not be welcome.  She was ridiculed, but didn’t leave.  She did what she needed to do, and her sins were forgiven.
• Lydia(Acts 16:13-15) – She listened to the gospel and responded. She then decided to be hospitable to Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke and possible others with them.  Her good decisions were not planned, but spontaneous.

These are just some examples of people we can learn from.  I’m sure you can add to the list.

Let’s make the conscious decision to be better . . . to think better . . . to do better.  Thinking about good things is good, but if there is no action following it, it is useless(Jam. 2:16).  So let’s do better.  Let’s do good.