S5 E39 - How To Reach Our Goals For 2026

I failed to reach many of my goals over this past year physically - and that was due to three reasons: setbacks, busyness, and lack of consistency. 

Oftentimes these same three reasons keep us from attaining our spiritual goals. We must not give up despite setbacks. We must never be too busy for God's work. And we must strive to be diligent to stay consistent in our efforts to grow. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

It’s crazy to think that we are only a few short weeks away from yet another new year. It’s at times like this that I find myself the most self-reflective, looking back over the past year and examining the things that I was able to accomplish or the things I failed to do. I know that this is not unique to me; new year’s resolutions are a commonality among people, as new beginnings often bring with them the spirit of a fresh start. As I look back over 2025 and look ahead to 2026, there is one glaring area that I did not reach nearly any of my goals that I had set out to do: and that is my physical goals at our CrossFit gym. I had grand plans for great gains over the past year: to increase certain lifts by so much weight, to be able to conquer some very hard movements, to look a certain way, etc. Unfortunately, nearly none of those things have come to fruition. I haven’t necessarily gone backwards, but I haven’t made much progress forwards either. Why is that? Well, as I reflected on this, really it comes down to three reasons: setbacks, busyness, and consistency. 

First, I had several setbacks over the past year that put a damper on my gym goals. In addition to ongoing sinus issues that have gotten worse, the first big setback was pulling my adductor muscle in my leg in the middle of the year. I couldn’t lift hardly at all, at least nothing heavy, as I was having to go to PT for weeks on end to have dry needling and therapy done. It took me several months to get back to normal. Then there was my most recent set back when I fell directly on top of my head & neck trying to do handstand pushups at a deficit. My whole neck and upper left back have been jacked up – and while multiple trips to the chiropractor for adjustments and different treatments have helped, it’s also been a setback. That’s the thing about setbacks – everyone has them. The key is to not give up and keep coming back, pushing through the harder times.

Second, I failed to reach my goals because quite frankly, we were just far too busy. Between family responsibilities and kingdom work, there is never a dull moment in our house. While “bodily exercise profits a little” according to the apostle Paul, there are certainly other things that must take priority in our lives. So that was part of our busyness - there was just so much going on that needed to happen first and kept me from being in the gym like I wanted. But to be fair, not all of our busyness was absolutely necessary. We all make choices, and it’s easy to get distracted from goals that you’ve set out for yourself. 

Finally, I failed to reach my goals simply because of a lack of consistency. The key to physical transformation is to be consistent. It’s not about a “diet” but a consistent, healthy lifestyle. You’ve got to be consistent with your exercise – which means you go even when you’re tired or just don’t feel like it. You’ve got to be consistent with eating healthy – which means making daily conscious choices to put healthy things in your body and drink lots of water. You’ve got to be consistent with your sleep – which means not staying up late doom scrolling or watching a show on a regular basis. When you stay consistent, you will make incredible gains over time. 

We all have goals that we have set in our lives that we have failed to reach, some of them important and some of them unimportant. I hope we would all agree that the most important goals that we can set for ourselves would be things pertaining to the growth of our faith. Be it growth in our knowledge of God’s Word, or goals in applying it through how we act as a spouse, a leader, our church families, in our community, etc. – these are the most important areas of growth we must focus on in our life. So now I want you to look back on this past year, I want you to think about the spiritual goals that you set out to accomplish…were you able to do so? Or did you fail to reach your goals? If we find ourselves in the position that we failed to reach our spiritual goals, may I suggest that the reasons for that are the same three things: setbacks, busyness, and inconsistency. 

One of the most common things that can hurt our spiritual goals is what we’ll simply call spiritual setbacks. Every single one of us has our own unique struggles, temptations, and parts of the old man that we must continue to put to death as it tries to raise its ugly head. Sometimes we are victorious in this matter, but sometimes we are not. Each of us fail at times, and there are even moments where we mess up pretty big. This is a spiritual setback. Unfortunately, sometimes when this happens, there are some that just choose to give up all together. It’s too hard, it’s too embarrassing, and it’s just too much. But we need to remember the words of the Proverb writer in chapter 24:16, “Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get back up again.” We serve a God of second chances, who is full of patience, mercy and grace. So long as we are willing to turn back to him and get back up again, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us. We make it our goal to avoid any and all spiritual setbacks, but when they happen, don’t give up. The righteous get back up again. 

Another area that can most commonly destroy our spiritual goals is busyness. Where we should be busy about our Father’s business, in actuality we are often times too busy for spiritual growth and kingdom work. We can get so distracted in this life and become so focused on the wrong things. Between all the kids’ programs and sports, and time for ourselves at night, and the 47 other commitments we’ve made through the week – I just don’t have time to read the Bible, or to serve, or to prepare a class…does this sound familiar? Jesus warns of this in Matthew 13:22, in explaining the parable of the Sower, “Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Have you become too busy for spiritual growth? Too distracted by the cares of this world to bear fruit? If so, in this next year, we must redirect our focus. In keeping with the theme of this podcast, we would do well to be reminded of Paul’s words in Colossians 3:1-3, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Don’t be too busy for Jesus, be busy for Jesus. That starts with setting our mind on things above, not on the distractions of this day-to-day world.

Finally, one of the biggest roadblocks to attaining our spiritual goals is a lack of consistency. As with any goal, if we are off again and on again with our efforts, we will make little to no progress. Anything worth doing is not easy, it will be difficult and take a great amount of determination and effort. The Hebrew author warned in ch. 5:11-12, “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.” Laziness will lead to catastrophe when it comes to spiritual growth and strengthening our faith. If you only devote yourself to growing in your faith when you’re not tired, or when you feel like it, or when it’s convenient, you never will. We must rather consider the advice given from Paul to the young evangelist Timothy. He would write in 1 Timothy 4:15-16, “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.” The pathway was clearly laid out for Timothy: growth and progress come from commitment and consistency. The same pathway to growth and progress is clearly laid out for us as well. If we want to reach our spiritual goals for the next year, we must be devoted and dedicated to it with all consistency. Even when you’re tired, even when you’re burnt out, even when you don’t feel like doing the things that will lead to your spiritual growth – remember your commitment, remember the goal, and find the strength to do it anyway. 

My friends, the time for spiritual growth and taking steps forward in faith is now. It will not be easy. There will be setbacks. We will fight busyness. We will struggle so stay consistent. But it’s worth it. The fruit it will bear for our King and his Kingdom is greater than any struggle we can face in our devotion to walk the narrow way. Don’t give up. Keep your focus. Stick with it. I cannot wait to see and hear what all God has in store for you all in this next year! 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 39, and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together. I cannot thank you enough for how you’ve supported this podcast over these past years. Together, we have been able to take simple things and apply them in ways that perhaps we never have. To challenge ourselves to think with a spiritual lens when we wouldn’t otherwise. Of course, knowledge alone means nothing – the blessing is in the doing. My prayer for you is that as you continue to set your mind above in this next year, that it will spurn you to action and even further growth in this up-and-coming 2026 year. We will be taking a break next week for me to enjoy the holidays with my family next Friday, but I invite you to join us back for the first episode of season six on Friday, January 2nd!  More than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.