Christian Living

A new year is a fresh start. And a fresh start is a great time to reset your priorities. What’s really important? And what’s just preferred? I would suggest seven areas of importance that you would consider and work into your routines in this coming year:

Our world is filled with uncertainty, on any given day we awake to news regarding economic issues in places like Russia, China or some other major place in this world. Those issues cause the economies of the rest of the first world nations to shudder and shake. Add to that news a level of uncertainty regarding our nation’s economy because of our political leaders’ unwillingness to deal with the national debt.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s has long been claimed territory on my calendar for goal setting. In the weeks previous, I’ve jotted down general ideas for goals for the New Year, but on this week, I prayerfully finalize these goals.

If you knew you were receiving a letter from an unjustly incarcerated man, what would you expect to read? Frustration? Anger? Gloom? The book of Philippians actually is such a letter—a prison epistle. The Apostle Paul penned this letter from the recesses of a Roman prison. While we would expect the letter to be sad and gloomy—or at least mournfully resigned—it’s not. The book of Philippians is even known as “the epistle of joy.”

The wise men followed a very special star to the land of Israel asking, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” When they found Him in Bethlehem, they came worshipping and gave Him valuable gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that no doubt sustained the family when they escaped to Egypt.

It’s amazing to me that during such a wonderful time of year as Christmas—a celebration that is so significant to our faith—there are Christians who don’t benefit from the season. It’s incredible that we are willing to settle for “getting through” it rather than celebrating it and benefiting from the focus on Christ.

As our family gathers for Christmas each year, we read the Christmas story. Actually, we read part of the Christmas story. We don’t include the genealogies found in either Matthew 1 or Luke 3. But these 32 verses are part of the Christmas story. In fact, they are a significant enough part that God included them in our Bibles.

Thanksgiving is more than a holiday; it is an action—thanks giving. Of course, everyone—saved and unsaved alike—has much to be thankful for. We all enjoy what Spurgeon called the “common mercies” of God. And most people try to practice gratitude.

2 > 4. Unless you are completely mathematically challenged, the above equation ought to bother you. After all, even second graders know that the number 4 is greater than the number 2. So let me readily admit that it’s merely a cute way for me to share a profoundly simple principle about giving thanks.

Everyone I know is tired, even people who are retired are tired. Our society lives at a fast pace, so we are going to be tired doing something. This even extends to the ministry. In 2 Corinthians 12:15 the Apostle Paul said it like this: “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” We need what Paul had—a healthy sense of the reality that this is the only life we get.

When you begin your Thanksgiving gratitude list, what do you include? Most of us probably begin with God’s gifts of salvation, family, church family, and friends. We then move to tangible gifts such as shelter, clothing, vehicle, and financial provision. If we stay at our list long enough, we add events and highlights of the past year.

King David had his share of trouble from his enemies. In Psalm 143, he is at a breaking point. Tired of being hunted down like an animal, he is despondent, discouraged, disillusioned, desperate, and depressed. Not even his mighty men could bring comfort or consolation to his soul.

I have freedom—to vote, to speak, to travel, to live. We enjoy a level of freedom people in repressed nations cannot even fathom.

Luke 17 gives the account of Jesus healing the ten lepers. One of the most convicting statements to me in that passage was Christ’s question to the man who returned to give Him thanks: “Where are the nine?”

When I was a boy, my dad would give me summer chores to accomplish while he was at work—anything from cleaning off the work bench to weeding the garden. I had all day to fulfill his requests and also had some time for my own enjoyment. But I knew that when Dad got home from work I would have to answer to him for what I had gotten done that day.

There is a God in Heaven who knows where you are, what you’re grappling with and how much longer you can take it. David cried in Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.” God is coming after you dear friend!

A few weeks, ago before the Sunday evening service, we had one of the meetings that I most look forward to—a Pastor’s Prayer Partners fellowship. This is a group of people in our church who have committed to pray with a partner for me, my family, and the ministries of our church. Their commitment and faithfulness is a tremendous blessing and encouragement to me.

I am not excited because I have retired and am looking forward to a stress free life of daily golf. (Those who know me well know that there are few things more stressful to me than trying to hit a golf ball.) I am feeling great because we are following God’s plan for our life in beginning a new ministry that we believe will be every bit as busy and productive as the one we are leaving.

If the ministry is anything, it is labor. Paul told Timothy, “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1). And that is exactly what it is—work.

Each generation must contend for, “The faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). If the foundations of faith upon which our freedoms stand are being destroyed, what can we do but lay them again?