I love NEW, don’t you? A new car, a new friend, a new gadget, a new phone, a new computer, a new outfit, a new pair of shoes. I love getting rid of the old and welcoming the new. I love opening the gift of new. Well, you and I have a gift to open in just a couple of days: a new year. It’s a gift worth unwrapping for sure. I love that I get to put behind me the mistakes, the trials, the discouragements of the past year as I ring in a brand-new year… a year of promise, potential, and growth. In fact, the word growth is what I want to encourage you with today.
The Christian life is NOT meant to be stagnant. In fact, throughout the New Testament, we learn that growth is what we should strive for. Peter writes about this in his second letter. He says: “Make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone” (2 Peter 1:5-7).
And then he writes: “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I know that I want to be MORE productive and useful than I was in 2025. So, I will hone in on these things for sure. But as I think about growth for this new year, I will strive to grow in wisdom and knowledge. I will pray that my faith will grow, my love with grow, my discernment will grow, my relationship with Jesus will grow, my Bible study will grow. I pray that I won’t be stuck in the same place, but tremendous growth will happen in my life.
I will also strive to be challenged and stretched. Challenged in my weakness, challenged in my witness for Christ, challenged in my ministry, challenged in my relationships. That I would be challenged to go deeper, to understand more, and to go outside my comfort zone. I pray that God would stretch me in ways I never imagined.
Lastly, I will pray that God gives me clearer eyes to see, stronger ears to hear His voice, and a deeper passion for His Word. In fact, I’m going to write a prayer with my goals and desires for 2026 and try and recite it out loud every day in the new year. What is your prayer for this new year?