New Year's Resolutions

Jonathan Edwards once wrote: "Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will."
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." That's a deep truth considering the unusual nature of 2020, but we must not consider it all in a negative context.
• Appreciate the little things once taken for granted
• Appreciate things like how to greet someone; how to say goodbye; things are so much more awkward.
• Miss not being so concerned about social distancing
• Miss visitors almost every week in church
But the Bible says….
Philippians 3:13-21
Some people make New Year's resolutions; I do not, simply because I never made it a practice. God gives us some things to think about for a New Year.
I. Vs 13—Forgetting those things which are behind.
• You can't forget the past without reaching forth to those things in front of you; in the future. The devil likes to inhabit the void we allow in our lives.
A. Forget the bad.

1. The failures
2. The hurts
3. The sin – confess it, forget it and move on
4. The disappointments
5. Even the bad decisions
   2 Corinthians 5:16-21
   B. We are also to leave behind the blessings and achievements
6. Start afresh every day with a clean slate; we can never rest upon our laurels
7. Bible reading successes
8. Souls led to Christ
9. Commitments achieved
   II. reaching forth unto those things which are before
   A. Pressing toward the "mark. Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
   • Keep our eye on the "finish line"
   • No matter who you are, the end of your race is closer today than yesterday
   • Ultimately,