Another new year, another new set of resolutions. How many of your resolutions are carry-overs from last year? Lose weight? Read more? Attend church more often? Read your Bible more?

These are all godly resolutions, things that will reinforce your identity in Christ. So the problem is what you resolve to do, but how. This year, make your resolutions SMARTER. 

SMARTER is an acronym that I read in Michael Hyatt’s book, “Your Best Year Ever” and I’ve used it to accomplish many of my goals.  Let’s run through how to develop SMARTER resolutions using the example of wanting to read your Bible more.

First, be SPECIFIC about what you want to do. “Read the Bible more” is too vague; you want to be more precise. A better goal is “Read my Bible for 10 minutes each day” or “Read through the Bible in a year.”

Next, make sure you goal is MEASURABLE. How do you measure “more” when describing reading your Bible? Set a time limit or determine how many verses or chapters you’d like to read. The internet is filled with free plans to get through individual books or the whole Bible.

Third, make it ACTIONABLE, something you can do. People will often say, “I want to be in the Word more.” Does that mean Bible study, personal reading, or taking a bath in the Bible? Use action words: Read, Study, Attend… take action on your goal.

Next, make it RISKY. Some of you may know this as “realistic” but that often makes our goals too easy. Take a chance, stretch yourself. Read through the Bible in a year or join a Bible study. Stretch yourself because there’s no growth in the comfort zone.

Fifth, make your goal TIME-KEYED. So often we don’t set goals with time in mind: when will I do it? What’s the deadline? With reading your Bible ask yourself when you will read. Will you do it first thing in the morning? Right before you get to bed. Want to read through the Bible? How long will you give yourself? Can you set a weekly goal or monthly goal? These are all examples of time-keyed goals.

 Then, make your goal EXCITING. This may be where I lose many of you, how can reading my Bible be exciting, especially the genealogies in Numbers? But who says you must start with Genesis and go through Revelation? There are chronological plans for reading the Bible, mixing elements of Israel’s history with the Psalms and prophets. Maybe start a “Stump the Pastor Journal,” where you write down things that you don’t think I know. There are plenty of ways to make this exciting.

Finally, make it RELEVANT. Tune these goals to your season in life. If you’re a parent with school-aged children, your goals will look different and should look different from someone whose children are grown or a grandparent. Also, you want goals that align with your values. Reading your Bible certainly aligns with who you are in Christ, but how you do this will depend on where you are in life.

Here it is… a way to accomplish some of the resolutions that you seem to set year after year. Work SMARTER not harder.

In Christ,

Pastor Tom Vanderbilt