Get ready! Get set …

It’s the first day of a brand new year and you have already started the day with what will impact your new year more than most things: your habits.

Some habits can be good. Doing things that help us live right and live well by applying a discipline that keeps us habitually in good practices is a positive thing.

But bad habits are often what we find at the core of what keeps us from being the person God would have us be. Sadly, many people launch their fresh start with anticipation of starting old (bad) habits in a new year. The result, from the outset of the new year, is a guarantee that they will become no better a person in the new year than they were in the old (and may actually lose ground).

To purposely make a difference in your life in the new year, you need to jettison the bad habits of the past that kept you from being the person God would have you be, and start applying new habits that work in unison with God’s design to grow you up into the likeness of Christ.

Before the year gets any older, let me encourage you to identify the old, negative habits you still need to get rid, as well as identify the new, positive habits you will replace the old ones with. It’s not a matter of simply eliminating an old habit, we need a new direction to replace the old.

Starting your new year well will dramatically increase the chances of ending well. The habits you start with are your intentions for the person you want to be at year’s end. Are you aiming high, or have you already settled for a re-run of last year?

Scotty