“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 1:6)
This is second day of a new year. A friend informed me that he no longer makes New Year’s resolutions. When I asked why he said, “My willpower is nearly always out of power.”
The Apostle Paul’s favorite Church was the Church he planted at Philippi. Having brought scores and scores of people to faith in Christ in that city, he finds himself in prison and unable to have any physical contact with them. As their pastor he cannot use his powers of reason and persuasion or his spiritual gifts of wisdom, preaching and teaching. Yet he has an unwavering confidence that they will continue in their faith until Jesus Christ returns.
This confidence is not based on them or on himself. He believes his positive and upbeat perspective about them because he knows that the One Who began a miraculous work in them will complete what He has started.
The word “perspective” means “to look through to the end.” At the starting gate of a New Year it’s so very important to have healthy perspective. I’m not thinking about willpower driven resolutions but spiritual goals that only the risen, living Christ can make doable. I’m talking about what you would like to see Christ do in your life this year.
I have recently learned a new formula for setting goals. In the context I have established, let the letters BHAG stand for Big, Hilarious, Audacious, Goals. As you set goals for the New Year make them big enough to let Christ in. Watch Him work because you have set goals that only He can accomplish!
Dick Woodward, 04 January 2011
4SpiritualSecrets 
I needed this reminder today!