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Dec 30, 2023 06:00am

Man in the Mirror

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This is the time of year when most people reflect on the past year and start setting goals for the days ahead. Although the calendar turns just one day, it feels like it’s a re-set…a “control-alt-delete” opportunity for our hearts. Depending on your personality, you may react to this time of year in a myriad of ways. It might just be “another day” for you. It might be a time of healthy reflection and setting vision. It might be a time that makes you feel defeated, or proud, or sad. However you approach it, the new year brings an opportunity to evaluate.

I am typically a very happy goal-setting-list-making-type-A kinda gal.

The way I approach the beginning of a new year ends up surprising me most years though.

Some years, I have printed out lists for myself and my family members to guide our evaluation of the past year and to set goals for the new year. My family just *loves* that *so* much. (Read with ultimate sarcasm.)

I have had years when I created a chart with room to write out goals for each area of my life along with reminders to make my goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and with a Timeline for achievement). Some years I have numbered my goals to match the year (23 goals for 2023). Some years I limit my lists to only broad ideas, and some I think about how the next year can help me hit a 5-year goal, a 10-year goal, etc. Some years, though, I just dive in with a heart ready to see what’s coming.

I am a lover of words, so I almost always pick a word to focus on for the next year. I enjoy the process, because it usually entails time of prayer, reflection, and researching the meaning behind words or phrases…I completely nerd out.

However I attempt to reflect and re-set my heart and mind, it is very difficult to keep my goals in my sights for more than a month…and only then if I have set alarms or reminders to pull me back on path for that long.

This reminds me of a passage-James 1:23-24 that tells us, “Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.”

This is similar to how my youngest son looks at himself in the mirror, when I ask him to wash his face. He typically looks at it, shrugs, and says it looks fine to him. He sees the food ring around his mouth, but he doesn’t do anything about it. He goes on about his business as if he needn’t do anything about what he saw. That’s kind of how goals go for us sometimes, at least for me. I have looked at my reflection, maybe even set goals that I know are good things, but then I move on with my life, and that list is a memory in the wind.

Now, I am not saying God doesn’t like us to set goals. I am saying that if we merely reflect and make lists of things we should work toward without putting future thought into it, we are being foolish like the man in the passage in James.

Just like this man, we can start to lose sight of our need for goals at all and become blind to the areas that need to be handed over to God, if we are not careful.

Without regular honest and humble evaluation of our hearts, we can quickly sink into a self-deceived, self-focused lifestyle. We can start thinking our words don’t matter that much anyway-distracting ourselves from setting goals and boundaries to keep a tight rein on our tongues (James 1:26), start finding false security in our own strengths and abilities (like Samson in Judges 16 when he was crushed quite literally after pridefully deciding he could handle things in his own strength). Without reflection and redirection, we might start to think we can accomplish whatever we desire apart from God (like Goliath-1 Samuel 17-He was taken down by a little guy with a slingshot.). We might enjoy success, decide we should just eat, drink, and take it easy, serving only our own selves without regard to eternal matters (like the rich fool in the parable in Luke 12-He died that same night). We could be deceived about our spiritual condition and become lukewarm (like the Church at Laodicea in Revelation 3-Jesus set them straight and said they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked-He said that He would vomit them out of His mouth-Ouch!).

So, we can see that God values the self-reflection of His people. He wants us to recognize areas we are not fully giving over to Him and make the changes He desires to give our whole hearts, souls, and minds to Him completely.

What God does not want is for us to start making lists and setting goals to try to earn righteousness. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we all fall short of the glory of God. None of us can become perfect on our own, no matter how many lists we make, alarms we set, or how much gumption we can muster up. BUT! But, there’s good news….2 Corinthians 5:21 reminds us that Jesus allows us righteousness through Him. We can find rest in Him (Matt 11:28).

As we reflect and set our goals, we should take a balanced approach. We should set goals with humility, based on God’s will (James 4), and with the knowledge that God ultimately plans our steps (Prov 16)…and the purpose driving them should be solely for the glory and honor of God, not ourselves (1 Corinthians 10:31), not approval of man (Galatians 1:10).