How to set New Year’s goals as a Christian. The start of a new year means around 31% of Americans will make at least one goal or resolution for the New Year. And I will be one of them.
I love New Year goals.
Goals that brought me pain from not achieving them over the years have given me joy as well when I set a goal and complete it.
In all honesty, I am a freak about New Year’s goals. I am not kidding!
One year, I made over 50!
Yes, 50!
That year, by a miracle, I did 75% of them. It was in 2023.
It was the first year in my life that I had made the most ridiculous amount of goals in my life.
Another year, I decided to read 24 books while working two jobs and helping to raise kids.
From November to December, I started reading like a wildfire. In two months, I read eight books so I could reach my goal.
A few years ago, I started to add spiritual goals to my list.
But if you plan on making one or two goals to a ridiculous amount like me, this article will inspire you to add a spiritual goal to this year.
It’s one of the best decisions I have made in my life.
To grow as a Christian and in my faith. That is a goal I should have every year, so now I include spiritual goals.
If you’re looking to grow in your faith and as a Christian, then let’s make 2025 the year to do it.
Outline:
The Importance of Setting Goals as a Christian
- Why setting goals matters in a Christian life.
- Biblical references supporting the value of planning (e.g., Proverbs 16:3).
- How goals can bring glory to God and foster spiritual growth.
Reflecting on the Past Year Through a Faith-Based Lens
- Questions to ask yourself about spiritual growth, relationships, and service.
- How to pray and seek God’s guidance for reflection.
- Journaling prompts for gratitude and lessons learned.
How to Align Your New Year’s Goals with God’s Will
- The role of prayer and scripture in goal setting.
- How to discern between personal desires and God’s plan.
- Examples of faith-aligned goals (e.g., growing in prayer, serving the community).
Practical Steps to Set and Achieve Your New Year’s Goals
- The SMART goal-setting framework from a Christian perspective.
- Breaking larger goals into actionable steps.
- Accountability through faith communities or mentors.
The Importance of Setting Goals as a Christian
Time and life go by so fast, and if we are not making a conscious choice to grow in our faith, we get complacent.
Last year, one of my main goals was to make sure that reading my Bible and journalling was a priority.
This was one of the hardest years in my life and for my family. We dealt with the unexpected death of a family member and a multiple-month stay in the hospital for a child.
It was extremely hard, but that time in the morning, reading the Bible and journalling helped me to put my hope in God.
Tip: Decide what area you want to grow as a Christian and commit to grow.
The Value of Planning Your New Year Goals.
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
God knew what the year would hold for me and my family. And holding on to the word of God, meaning reading and applying that word to my life, helped me this year.
Tip: Plan and write down what you want it to look like.
Setting a spiritual goal for the new year.
As I mentioned, many unexpected things happened last year, but setting the goal of getting closer to God and reading the Bible daily helped me to stay focused on God when this time came.
Reflecting on the Past Year Through a Faith-Based Lens
When you make goals to help grow your faith, start through questions.
- What is one thing I can do that will help me to grow in my faith?
- What small goal can be added to my schedule to help me know more about Jesus?
- Are there things in my life that I need to change to grow spiritually?
- How can I share my love of Christ with others?
Not all goals are something we add.
Many times, a spiritual goal is something we remove.
Last year, I made a New Year goal to not talk about people.
And I did not make that goal.
Just watching the news, the drama of almost everything. From P.Diddy to my family drama, it was like a TMZ report.
I talked more than ever about others until a month ago, when I noticed many things in my life just weren’t right. If anything, it was a bad example. I am sad to say.
So, I started to do a 180.
I got into some bad patterns, but I am slowly moving away from them, and that will be my 2025 goal.
Shut my mouth!
Tip: Figure out if it’s something you want to add or eliminate.
How to pray and seek God’s guidance for reflection.
As I mentioned above, I started talking about people negatively.
So, in my time in prayer and seeking God, I started to feel convicted to stop any form of gossip, even the ones I called “sharing,” that was actually just gossip.
Some things in my life were not changing because I was not changing my words.
So I started to seek God, asked for forgiveness, and then started to break the pattern. I did a spiritual audit of my life and found I was gossiping.
Here are some tips on how to start.
- Do a spiritual audit of your life, words, and time.
- Seek God when you write your goals.
- Pray for wisdom and direction.
Seek God for guidance and ask for forgiveness for things in your life that aren’t right.
Be grateful and practice gratitude.
I think this might be one of the most important goals that all Christians should have every year-to be grateful.
But how that looks for your life will be different for you.
Gratitude for you might be worship music for an hour a week. For me, it’s writing down daily what I am grateful for.
Tip: Do a life audit and identify any areas you need to grow.
How to Align Your New Year’s Goals with God’s Will
The importance of reading the Bible and knowing scripture.
If you are setting a spiritual resolution for this new year, then the best way to start is by knowing God’s word- the Bible.
This is the first place we can learn what God’s will is for our lives.
Next is seeking wisdom from God. I love this scripture, and it’s my scripture for the year.
“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
This is my scripture for the new year.
Practical Steps to Set and Achieve Your New Year’s Goals
If you really want to see your goals accomplished, then setting small steps to get there is the easiest way to do that.
Breaking down the steps needed to achieve the goal.
- The SMART goal-setting framework from a Christian perspective.
- Breaking larger goals into actionable steps.
- Accountability through faith communities or mentors.
As I mentioned above, in one year, I had a crazy amount of goals. That year, I did two things that were different from previous years.
One: I took the top ten goals and wrote them down where I could see them throughout the year.
Two: I set smaller goals to reach the bigger goal.
(For example, save $100 dollars a month to have $1200 for a mission trip at the end of the year. This is a monthly action step to reach your year goal)
It’s the smaller goals that help you reach the bigger goals.
A great tool for achieving your New Year’s goals is the SMART framework.
Here is my personal example of this when setting a SMART spiritual goal:
- Specific- No negative comments about other people for one week.
- Measurable: Nightly, think about things I might have said during the day.
- Achievable- At the end of the month, do an evaluation.
- Relevant-Have deeper and stronger relationships with others around me and be a good example to children.
- Time: Evaluate progress every three months. April, July, September, December.
I broke down my bigger goal into small, more attainable steps that check progress.
Tip: Set smaller goals that you check regularly to see progress.
Accountability when setting goals
When researching this article, accountability partners were brought up a lot when setting goals for the New Year.
Now, I have some wonderful friends and someone in my family I am really close to. And most of them are not like me and dislike setting New Year’s goals.
I am the complete opposite of them.
So those who I would be accountable to are always going to give me grace. Cheer me on, but also say it’s okay if I don’t do it.
They aren’t “yes” friends, but they love and trust me so much they don’t focus on what I’m not doing and focus on what I am doing right in my life.
Which is who I want in my life.
So, I need to be accountable to myself and responsible to God and myself when I set a goal this year.
Not depend on someone else to keep me accountable. I will be the one to look back and see if I accomplished my goals for this year. I’m responsible for this year.
But if you have someone in your life who will help you meet your goals, then by all means, partner together to do it. I have had fitness partners we worked out together, and it was great and motivated me to do it on all days, not just the feel-like days.
My life is not your life.
If you have accountability friends, tell them about your goals and stay in touch with them to keep you on track.
Set yourself up for success.
Give yourself grace when needed.
We all need grace in our lives, and sometimes, we need to give it to ourselves. So as you set these goals and life happens, remember God gives us Jesus, the giver of grace.
Don’t let discouragement or disappointment stop you from achieving your goals. If you fail one day, see the next as an opportunity for change.
Don’t give up! You can do it with God’s help.
Here is a quick recap of how to set New Year’s goals as a Christian.
- Decide the area in which you want to grow spiritually.
- Do a spiritual audit of your life, words, and time.
- Seek God when you write your goals.
- Pray for wisdom and direction.
- Set achievable small steps to reach your goal.
I leave you with this verse:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I hope this article has inspired you to grow in your faith this year and set some goals to draw you closer to God and others. I would love to hear some of your goals for the New Year, so leave a commitment, and let’s inspire each other to grow in our faith.
You can also check out these articles for inspiration.
How to give grace to yourself and others.