It’s the end of an old year, a time when many people measure how much progress they’ve made financially, socially, in their career, at home or in the community.
Depending upon the evidence, hopes may ascend or decline. If earnings are up, perhaps there is celebration. If income is down, despair may set in. If promoted at work, yay, if overlooked, bummers. And the list of what went well and what failed lengthens to either dismay or delight.
If tempted to go down this route of evaluating the past, it is well to remember that the most important progress is always spiritual!
What you gain spiritually stays with you forever. It is never lost, stolen, or diminished. It multiplies in effect for all time to come, moving you away from being held prisoner to fickle material measurements and bringing you closer to God, to heaven, where substance is permanent, reliable and fixed.
Jesus Christ taught his followers to seek the spiritual above all else. He said,
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”
Matthew 6:19,20
The spiritual is what stays with you for all of eternity. It’s what counts most in the long run. To prosper your spiritual growth today is to make the wisest investment for the future.
So be sure to measure your success in spiritual terms. How much better do you know God? How much love are you expressing to your neighbor? How much closer to God do you feel because of your prayers and efforts to grow spiritually?
What you accomplish spiritually will pay the bills, provide a home, improve relationships and make you a happier healthier person.
Mary Baker Eddy astutely wrote, “Every step of progress is a step more spiritual” The People’s Idea of God, p. 1.
The year 2014 offers ample opportunity to take many progressive spiritual steps.
Enjoy the adventure!
“What you accomplish spiritually will pay the bills, provide a home, improve relationships and make you a happier healthier person.” Thank you for the reminder that spiritual progress always has practical results. And thank you for the truth that true success is measured spiritually.
Evan! I love how you seem to always pick just the right topic at just the right time! And then your “angle’ is thought- provoking and fresh! Just the reminder our household needs to make our New Year Resolution lists! Now we will have the proper focus! I am going to read this to my 92 year young dad and we’ll have a lot of fun expressing our gratitude for the fun adventures we had in 2013 and a better anticipation for good things to focus on in 2014! Thanks so much for this wonderful gift – and Happy All Year’s to you, your wife and family!
This is the best reminder that all our real progress falls under only one category – how much we are expanding and deepening our understanding of God.
This goal encompasses all the rest and sweetens and purifies the other little goals we might have set our heart upon.
And maybe best of all, our growth in this path will without a doubt bless those we come into contact with.
It’s a win-win goal at every possible angle!
Spiritual progress is the only progressive step to care about. The material wants and wishes follows suit.
One of my goals for the new year was to learn how to make good old fashioned cinnamon rolls. Spiritually I will be pleasing others hopefully. If I can bring a smile to other’s faces and hear them saying aaawww with each bite it will be heavenly. If we look to our spiritual growth in small ways such as this I think we will be blessed and be a blessing as well.