New Year’s resolutions—do you have any? I suppose it’s all too common to make resolutions and then let them fade away into oblivion, whether because of busyness or laziness—or perhaps a combination of both. Goals met, on the other hand, bring a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, not to mention the intended benefit of the goal itself (such as losing weight or quitting smoking for improved health and energy.)

Let me ask you: what are your spiritual goals for this year? Do you want to be in the same place in your walk with the Lord in January 2010 as you are right now? If not, what is your plan for making progress? If you’re anything like me, you might set up a checklist of “to-do’s” in order to give yourself some sort of measurement of progress. Read so many chapters of your Bible each day, spend so much time in prayer, attend a Women’s Bible study, or read a certain number of Christian books on a given subject. Trouble is, we get focused on the “doing” and forget that God is all about our “being.”

So can I ask you another question? (This one is a little more personal.) How is your “being?” Do you think your character reflects the character of Christ? (That is, after all, the goal—see Romans 8:29, for example.) In what areas would you like to improve?

Personally, during this first trimester of pregnancy I’ve let my constant tiredness make me a little irritable with my children. That’s certainly a bad habit that I’d like to nip in the bud sooner rather than later! I’ve also been doing many things more out of “duty” than out of “love.” While it is good to obey, God also wants our hearts—and I’ll be the first to admit that I could use some work in that area. Trouble is, I can’t really make a checklist out of how many times I snap at the children, or sigh, or just give up on doing something that I know God would want me to do (like get up and discipline one of the children when they need it!). And even if I tried to do that, it probably wouldn’t be effective. Why? Because outward measures don’t necessarily affect the heart—and that’s where lasting change needs to start.

To get the ball rolling on heart-change, Bible reading and prayer are good. I can measure those—even better! But, the danger is that I’d just get caught up in more doing and yet wouldn’t even be “doing” the right thing with all of the information I’d acquire through study. My husband picked up a quote from somewhere (unfortunately I’m not sure the source) that goes something like this: The average Christian is knowledgeable beyond their ability to obey. In other words, I may possess lots of head-knowledge but I’m not able to adequately put it into practice the way God wants me to. Yet it is my obedience that shows my love for God and brings blessing (see Luke 11:28, John 14:15-24).

Knowledge is relatively easy to acquire, so it’s equally easy to feel confident in what we “know.” Infinitely harder to put the Word into practice on a consistent basis! If I had a “New Year’s Resolution” this year, I would want to be more obedient to what I already know in God’s Word. Given what I have already read and studied in my Christian walk, I could probably give up Bible reading entirely and still “know” more than I can successfully “do.” Scary thought, no? How about you?

I have been immensely blessed as I have edited, read, and re-read Marc and Todd Shaw’s upcoming book, The Values-Driven Life. It was actually designed to help us get from where we are to where we want to be in our relationship with God and in our expression of Christ-like character. Jesus used the parable of the soils (see Luke 8) to describe the various responses to the Gospel. The Values-Driven Life focuses on the last two: the seed that springs up among thorns, and the seed that falls on good soil, where it produces an abundant crop. The goal for all of us to be abundantly fruitful for God and His Kingdom! Here’s a brief excerpt from the first chapter—you may pick up the reference to the gardening analogy, but you’ll also get a good idea of the premise behind the book:

Crops need protection, but they also need fertilizer for optimum growth. Yep, Christians need fertilizer, too. Your nourishment comes from God’s Word, the Bible.

There is absolutely no substitute for sitting down during your quiet time in the morning and reading God’s Word. It is always relevant and always timely. Read the same passage ten times, and most certainly you will hear God’s gentle voice whisper new and fresh insight for you each time you read it. It is nourishment for the soul, and an absolute necessity if you are going to bear fruit. You can’t impart nourishment to others until you are personally “filled.” Reading the Bible regularly is an important first step in your spiritual growth.

Another means of learning God’s Word is through Bible study. Spending time alone, or especially with other Christians, dissecting and discussing God’s Word is time well invested. Interaction and discussion will offer the most substantive nourishment. Listening to a sermon can have an impact, but an interactive discourse is guaranteed to go deeper in its effects (see First Corinthians 14:26, for example). Seek active learning over passive learning any day.

Another great source of nourishment is good books, or teaching audios and videos. For example, The Values-Driven Life was written to help you identify weeds in your own life, and to provide some Miracle-Gro^® for your accelerated growth. Essentially, we have identified some of the elements that are essential to your growth in Christ-likeness, and have pulled them together into twelve easy-to-understand-and-apply packets so that you can get a jumpstart on your spiritual journey.

Is there any substitute for the organic stuff (i.e., the Bible)? Absolutely not! God’s unadulterated Word will give you all that you will find in this book, and more. But reading the Bible alone also poses a challenge: there is much, much, much more! The Bible is a big book. It will take you years to read it, and even longer to understand and apply it. The Values-Driven Life offers just the highlights of what the Bible has to say specifically concerning what it means to grow in Christ-like character. No history, no prophesy, no poetry; just a focused summary of what God wants from you and me as it pertains to our character. But it will take perseverance on your part to read, meditate on, and apply the teachings herein.

If Christ-likeness is the Goal, What does it Look Like?

The purpose of The Values-Drive Life is to provide a “quick start” or “quick reference” guide for “professing Christians” at all levels of spiritual growth, whose heartfelt desire is to continue to mature in their faith. The question is, since we are attempting to summarize the whole of the Scriptures and the essence of Christ-likeness in twelve easily digestible concepts, what are the values that God most values? What should be your focus as you seek to grow in Christ-like character?

Within the books of the Bible, God’s core values—the principles and ideals that God desires for humanity—are embodied in the character of key men and women who walked closely with God, are specified in the Scriptures, and are ultimately best defined and made manifest in the person of Christ. There is ample scriptural evidence of 12 core values of God, which form the essence of Christ-likeness: Faith, Surrender, Love, Faithfulness, Wisdom, Self-control, Righteousness, Humility, Holiness, Diligence, Generosity and Praise.

These core values are evident throughout the whole of Scripture, either directly stated or seen repeatedly as the traits of those who had intimate relationships with God—and evident in Christ Himself. And we know that God wants us to be like Christ (see Romans 8:29). So, ultimately, these are the essential character traits that God wants to manifest in His people. These are the values that God values.

Subsequent chapters of VDL take an in-depth look at each of the essential “core values” of our faith. If your goal is to grow more like Christ this year, reading VDL is just what you need! It’s packed full of Scriptures (over 1,200 verses!) and—yes, probably plenty of conviction, too. Why? Because none of us have “arrived” at the goal yet, and getting there is sometimes a slow and painful process. So you’ll hopefully find plenty of encouragement, too, to press on in your striving. As you grow closer to God and desire greater obedience to His Word, 2009 may be your most blessed year yet—at least, we hope so! Advance copies of VDL can be purchased now and will ship as soon as they are available—just visit www.ValuesDrivenLife.com. You’ll definitely want to read the advance testimonials here.

Personally, I will be re-reading (and working on) the value of Love, and probably Praise, too. After that, I’m sure it will be something else.

Oh, and on the subject of New Year’s resolutions…some of you may remember our “Family Planner for Character Growth and Development” from last January; others of you are new to Values-Driven. You can access that planner by clicking here, and be sure to read the related blog post. You may find it helpful as you evaluate your family’s progress in character development and set goals for growth in the New Year. As you (and your family) strive to grow in your faith and in Christlike character, remember Jesus’ promise in Luke 11:28: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” This could be your most blessed year yet–we sure hope so!

Thanks for letting us share our “New Year’s” thoughts. You all are a blessing to us, and we pray for wonderful things for your 2009!

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On a personal note, one of our first orders of business this year is to prepare for Marc’s two-week missions trip to Kenya (Jan. 20-Feb.4). He suddenly got a little nervous this week, realizing that he had to be prepared for 40+ hours of teaching and training (16 workshops, services, and revival meetings)—but he’s been in the Word and in prayer all week and we’re sure that God will do amazing things through this time. Please pray with us that this is so!

There are many expenses associated with this trip, of course. Some support has already been contributed, and we’re trusting God for the rest. Although it is a bit out of the scope of our “usual,” we thought you wouldn’t mind if we let you know of this need and asked for financial help from those of you who feel prayerfully led to do so. Given Marc’s recent layoff, every penny that we raise will be used directly for the Kenya trip, as the shortfall is still well in the thousands. Every bit will be a blessing, so if you can give—it is much appreciated. We’ve set up an informational page at: www.valuesdrivenfamily.com/kenya.htm; you can also donate there if you’re interested. Of course, we will keep you posted as Marc is away and with the “results” when he returns!