Every year the number one goal of every Christian should be the same—becoming more like Jesus this year than we were last year.

Romans 8:28-29.  This text makes clear that “God causes all things to work together for good” in our lives.  The question is, what is the “good?”  Verse 29 answers that question.  God uses everything in our lives to conform us to the image of Christ and to make us more like Jesus.

There are four principles we need to follow as we face this challenge each year.

1.  God wants every Christian to grow up spiritually and become more and more mature in the faith (Ephesians 4:13).  One of the biggest problems in the church today is that we have too many baby Christians running around crying and causing trouble.

2.  There is only one model we should follow to determine whether or not we are maturing in the faith—the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you are going to imitate another Believer, make sure that Christian is following Christ.  But, the only way we will know whether we are making progress is to compare ourselves to Jesus.

3.  Christ’s attitudes, character, and conduct are the marks of maturity we should build into our lives.  Life is built on character, but character is built on decisions we make.  We shape our lives by our thoughts, attitudes, and actions, becoming either more or less like Jesus Christ.

4.  The goal of every church should be to help each Believer become mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).  If your church is not helping you to become more like Jesus, you need to find one that will help you and become a member of that fellowship.

If you come to the end of 2016 and you are not more like Jesus than you were in 2015, you are going in the wrong direction.