Here is a spiritual check-up for the new year: "Am I more like Jesus Christ than I was? Am I easier to live with? Am I more compassionate? Am I more generous? Am I angry about those things which offend the purity of God? Do I feel more the burden of those who are lost? Am I really thrilled by the prospect of the imminent coming of the Messiah? Is the kingdom of God truly the master passion of my life? Is my loyalty to all the things of Truth stronger than it was or weaker? Who are the people with whom I have the closest relationship? Remember, being static is not really the objective. The objective is growth."

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." {Phil. 3:12-14}