Toward the end of each year, I spend time thinking and praying about goals for the coming year. The Scriptures tell us to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). If I am not intentional in my relationship with God, I will not grow spiritually. Furthermore, experience has taught me that if I am not growing, I am losing ground spiritually. There is no neutral. Setting measurable and achievable goals with a clear plan of action is necessary for my spiritual growth. 

Over the last few weeks, I have been looking at 2023’s goals to see how I have done. And I have started to pray about what God wants me to focus on in the new year. I came across a video clip of Alistair Begg challenging his church family to grow in their faith. I thought I would share his four points in hopes that you might use them to set some spiritual growth goals for 2024 as well.

Eat Up   

Each of us needs a steady diet of God’s word. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). We need to carve out time every day to read and meditate on God’s word. So, make a plan (or find one of the many good ones available) and track your progress.

Grow Up

Here the focus is on growing in your relationship with Christ. Perhaps there is an area of weakness you need to address. Maybe you want to grow in a spiritual discipline like prayer or evangelism. Is it time for you to be baptized? What is an aspect of your Christian life you could do better at? Once you have identified an area for growth, develop a plan for how you are going to work on it. Keep track of your progress, and do not get discouraged by setbacks.

Show Up

Here Alistair Begg focused on participating in the corporate gatherings of the church. It is good to be in the word of God individually; but it is also necessary to be under the word when it is preached. The ordinances (The Lord’s Table and baptism) are corporate activities. For some, the goal may be to consistently attend services. Perhaps your goal should be to add Sunday school to your Sunday morning routine. Maybe try consistently attending the monthly prayer meeting. How can you grow your commitment to the corporate gathering in 2024?

Step Up

Finally, what are some tangible ways you can increase serving Christ? God has placed each of us in the body just as He desires. He gives each of us Holy Spirit empowered gifts that are to be used for the common good of others. And He has appointed good works beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 4 tells us that when the entire body does its part, the whole body grows up into Christ, who is its head. But, just like when we are sick or hurt, if a portion of the body is not functioning well, the whole body suffers. How might God want you to expand your service in the year to come? 

Obviously, there are other areas one could set goals in. I thought Alistair Begg’s ideas were catchy and helpful. May each of us get alone with our God in prayer to ask Him how He would have us change and grow in the coming year. Then, may we be intentional to work in the areas the Spirit makes known to us.  

One of my favorite statements from Jesus is found in Matthew 11:28-30, where He said Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. There is so much beauty in those verses.

December’s book of the month, Dane Ortland’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers is based on that text. This book helped me as a follower of Jesus Christ, and it taught me how to better pastor people who are hurting or mired in sin.

Many Christians who get mired in sin believe that God is displeased with them. They have fallen out of favor. Perhaps God is even waiting for a chance to make them pay for their weaknesses. Sufferng can raise similar thoughts. Maybe their hardship is God’s punishment for some past sin. Because they feel guilt, shame, or despair about life, they think that God must feel the same way about them.

This book paints a very different picture. Christ is not an aloof Monarch. He is a gentle Savior who is drawn to us in our weaknesses. He does not deal harshly with a weak lamb. He is tender, stooping down into their muck so He can lift them out of it. He is the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the single stray. When He finds it, He lifts it gently to His shoulders and carries it home. Once it is safely back into the fold, He rejoices over its restoration. 

I do not know of a book that better captures the heart of Christ towards the weak, weary, or hurting. Ortland understands God’s grace in a profound way, and he has the skill to communicate its depths in understandable ways. To the self-righteous person who thinks God accepts them because of their performance, this book will have little effect. But to the person who is wearied by the struggles of this life, tired of their sin, and ready to move from guilt to freedom, this book will be a comfort and a teacher. Freedom from sin and strength in suffering comes from drawing near to the Savior whose gentle and lowly heart compelled Him to deal with our sin on the cross. This is the heart of the Savior who said, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

In 2016, I attended a pastors’ conference with a theme on holiness. One of the speakers commented that helping people understand the relationship between Law and Grace is one of the hardest things a pastor must do. By Law, he meant God’s standards of righteousness communicated throughout the entire Bible, but especially in the books of the Law. Grace points to God’s undeserved favor expressed by forgiving those who have transgressed His righteousness. Although this truth is also found throughout the Bible, it is seen most clearly in the person and work of Jesus Christ described in the gospels and explained in the epistles of the New Testament.

If we are not careful, we wrongly divorce Law and Grace from one another. We do this with statements like God is a of justice in the Old Testament but a God of grace in the New Testament. We almost act as if there are two gods in the Bible, the wrathful God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament.

This polarization often shows up in our approach to the Christian life. On one hand, there is the antinomian. This is a fancy word that describes those who say God does not care how someone lives after salvation. His grace places no demands upon us. He is just happy we looked to Christ for salvation.

On the other hand, there is the legalist. They prefer the Law of God. They create checklists of rules, then gauge their own godliness and everyone else’s based upon their capacity to keep the rules. In this system, it is common for people to think that God favors the rule followers over those who struggle with sin.

Both the antinomian and the legalist misunderstand the relationship between law and grace. One says it doesn’t matter how I live; God’s grace covers it all. The other says I must make myself acceptable to God through my actions. Most of us have a propensity in one direction or the other. Churches also tend to lean in one direction or the other.

But there is a third, biblical approach to the Christian life. It is a way that does not see law and grace as opponents, but as partners. God’s grace is sufficient for all our sin. We do not earn our standing before God; we receive it through the mediation of Christ. Yet God cares how His people live. He commands us to be holy because He, our God is holy. Therefore, His grace remains operative in us after salvation, enabling us to live a life of holiness. Learning to cooperate with God’s ongoing work of grace in our life is key to spiritual growth. 

This is why I am recommending Kevin DeYoung’s book The Hole in our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness as November’s book of the month. DeYoung is a skillful writer who has the ability to make big concepts understandable. This book is easy to read, practical, and most importantly, saturated with Scripture.  It captures well the tension found in Philippians 2:12-13, where we are commanded to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But we do so with the knowledge that it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

October’s book of the month is Newton on the Christian Life: To Live is Christ by Tony Reinke. Crossway has published a series of books focused on various historically significant pastors’ and theologians’ approach to growing into faithful followers of Christ. I have read and benefited from several of them, but this book is uniquely good.

Who was John Newton?

Most Christians have a vague idea of who John Newton was because of the enduring popularity of his hymn Amazing Grace. Most people know that he was captain of a slave trade ship who converted to Christianity and eventually wrote the famous hymn. What most people do not know is that Newton was a pastor, prolific hymn writer, publisher of books and hymnals, and spiritual mentor to pastors and laymen alike. He was one of the most influential Christians in England for much of his life. It was not until after his death that Amazing Grace became popular. 

What this book is

This book is not a biography of Newton’s life. If you would like to read a biography, I would recommend Jonathan Aitken’s book John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace. Instead, it is a book that seeks to capture the heart of Newton’s pastoral ministry. The hope is that we learn from a skilled soul physician how to live the abundant life Christ redeemed us to have. Newton was a skilled letter writer. These letters serve as the primary source for the book’s explanation of how we live the Christian life.

Why I love the book

There are a lot of concepts thrown around in Christian circles that we can get very familiar with without truly experiencing them in our daily lives. Terms like born again, grace, abiding in Christ and walking by the Spirit are things we can define yet not know the transforming power of God in the experience of them. Talking about them is not the same thing as internalizing them.

I picked this book up in a season when I was weary and my relationship with God was not as intimate as it could have been. It was an instrument of God’s grace to me at the time. Newton helped me understand God’s grace better. He strengthened my walk and taught me more about what it means to abide in Christ. The book introduced me to a pastor who thought of himself as a physician for sick souls. His gentle yet courageous way of speaking truth into struggling people’s lives was instructive to me as a pastor.

I try to be a discipled and consistent reader. It is rare for me to read a book more than once, and it is even less rare for me to say that a book has made my list of top five books to affect me most. Yet I have read this book three times. Each time it has ministered to my soul. I have recommended it to others who gave similar reports. It is definitely in my list of top five books. I trust you will be blessed by it too if you choose to read it.