Making the Most of Your New Year
By Pastor Rick Warren
Happy New Year, dear friends. Let me be maybe the first person this year to say to you: you are deeply loved. God loves you deeply—and I love you deeply.
Congratulations on making it through 2025, regardless of what happened last year. The good news is that on January 1, we get to start over with a clean slate and a fresh calendar. That is good news. And no matter how we may have messed up last year, with God’s help, you can create a new you in this new year. That’s the good news of the gospel.
If you’ll invest just a few minutes with me, I want to show you the first four steps to creating a new you in the new year. It’s possible—but you have to have a plan.
Why You Need a Plan
Proverbs 17:24 says, “An intelligent person aims at wise actions, but a fool starts off in many different directions.” I don’t want you starting 2026 in many different directions. I want you to have a plan.
To make these steps easy to remember, I’ve put them in alphabetical order—A, B, C, and D. If you know your ABCs, you’re ready for 2026.
A — Accept Responsibility for My Life
Nothing is going to change until you accept responsibility for your own life. That includes two things:
- Stop blaming others for my problems
- Stop making excuses for my unhappiness
Galatians 6:5 says, “Each person must be responsible for himself.”
So as we start this new year, ask yourself:
Who have I been blaming for my problems? Who have I been blaming for my unhappiness?
Here’s the truth: happiness is a choice. You are as happy as you choose to be. I’ve been in 165 countries, seen people living in the hardest conditions imaginable—and many of them were far happier than people who are wealthy and comfortable. Happiness is a choice.
Proverbs 22:13 says, “The lazy man is full of excuses.” Benjamin Franklin once said, “The person who is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.” If you’re busy making excuses, you’re wasting energy.
So step one is simple: stop accusing and stop excusing. Stop blaming others, and stop excusing yourself. Accept responsibility for your life—and your happiness—in 2026.
B — Believe I Can Change
You have to believe you can change.
The person who says, “I can’t do this,” and the person who says, “I can do this,” are both right.
We limit ourselves by our fears, our doubts, and our self-talk. Many times, we are our own worst enemies. This year, I want you to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs. Beliefs are meant to be believed, and doubts are meant to be doubted—but we usually do the opposite.
Hold on to this verse in 2026:
“There is nothing that I cannot master with the help of Christ who gives me strength.”
—Philippians 4:13 (Jerusalem Bible)
Accept responsibility for your life. Accept responsibility for your happiness. And believe that—with God’s help—you can change.
C — Clarify What I Really Want
If you don’t know what you want, you won’t know when you’ve arrived.
Job 34:3–4 says that we choose what we listen to, we choose what we consume—and then it says something surprising: we must define what is good.
Before you start anything new in 2026, you need to do some house-cleaning. You need to check up from the neck up. Get rid of bad attitudes, fears, and lies that have been holding you back. We lie to ourselves more than we lie to anyone else—and those lies keep us stuck. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”
Part of starting a new year is deciding what you’re going to stop doing. You can’t keep adding without subtracting. One of my mentors, Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, used to ask me, “Before you tell me what you’ve started, tell me what you’ve stopped.”
Often, the choice isn’t between bad and good—it’s between good and better, or better and best. Life is too short for inferior thoughts, inferior habits, and inferior priorities.
1 Corinthians 10:23 says, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.” Some things aren’t wrong—they’re just not necessary.
Remember, if you don’t decide, someone else will decide for you.
D — Don’t Wait to Begin
Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.”
There will never be an ideal time. “One of these days” is none of these days. Start now.
Big dreams can feel overwhelming, so take baby steps. Break your goals into bite-sized pieces. Inch by inch, life is a cinch.
A Balanced Plan for 2026: Follow the Model of Jesus
Luke 2:52 tells us that Jesus grew in four ways:
- Wisdom (mental growth)
- Stature (physical growth)
- Favor with God (spiritual growth)
- Favor with people (relational growth)
This is a picture of a balanced life. Use these four areas as a template for your goals in 2026.
1. Mental Growth — What Do I Want to Learn?
“Do yourself a favor and learn all you can… and you will prosper.” (Proverbs 19:8)
All leaders are learners. What do you want to learn this year?
2. Physical Growth — What Will Improve My Health?
You can’t control everything about your body—but you can control some things. Control the controllables.
And don’t forget: it’s not just what you eat that affects your health—it’s what’s eating you.
“Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is a slow death to be gloomy all the time.” (Proverbs 17:22)
3. Spiritual Growth — What Will Deepen My Relationship with God?
“Grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 3:18)
Ask yourself: What one change would help me grow closer to God this year?
4. Relational Growth — How Can I Help Others?
You grow relationally by giving your life away.
“God has given you some special abilities—be sure to use them to help each other.” (1 Peter 4:10)
Your gifts were given for others. The more you give yourself away, the more God works through you.
Don’t Rely on Willpower Alone
Willpower helps you start—but it doesn’t help you finish. Eventually, it runs out.
That’s why you need God’s strength every day.
“Your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you.” (Ephesians 6:10)
Ask for his strength. The Bible says, “You have not because you ask not.”
Moving Forward Together
As we begin this new year, all of us at Finishing the Task wish you a fantastic 2026. If you haven’t yet, on behalf of believers across generations and around the world, I invite you to join us as a Great Commission Ally this year.
Happy New Year—and God bless you.
