Posts Tagged ‘ resolutions ’

Just one thing!

December 31, 2011
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Most folks who set out to make New Year’s resolutions make a list. That list is pretty familiar, isn’t it? Lose weight. Eat better. Be nicer. Quit smoking. Go to church more. Be a better parent, husband, friend, or preacher. Write better bulletin articles. Read more books. Talk less. Listen more.  If you’re like most folks – that list serves you well until January 3rd or so. It’s a great idea, but hard to follow through on.

Here’s a suggestion: what one thing in your life is holding you back from serving Jesus? There may be several things—but what is the biggest problem?

We’re kind of funny people. I hate cleaning my office—just ask Leslie! The best way to get me to clean my office is to assign me a task I like less. Suddenly, cleaning the office just got a lot easier. Sometimes we don’t focus on what is really important.

If your car has a leaking transmission, burns oil, and doesn’t have brakes, you’d be a fool to spend your time and money waxing it and installing a new stereo, wouldn’t you? If your house has a broken window, you need to fix it before you worry about new hardwood floors.

Our lives are the same way: while there are several things in each of our lives that interfere with our relationship with Jesus, in all likelihood, one of those problems is more severe and urgent than the others. We need to tackle the big problem first.

So throw out your list of resolutions. Identify the one thing that is doing more harm to your soul than anything else: one repeated sin, one neglected virtue, one continued disobedience or doubt, one nagging fear—just one!—confess it to a trusted friend, bring it to Jesus, and make it the target of your full-on assault this year. When (not if!) you conquer—then you can find the next thing.

A New Year

January 2, 2010
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Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8

Welcome to the New Year.  I had just gotten used to writing 2009 and she is gone.  2010 is like a new page in the book of our life. We begin a new year with the page blank and we begin to write our life for 2010.

God is still in the life changing business. He awaits our decision to make this the best year of our lives.  He is not interested in any outward change and resolution that won’t last past the first temptation that comes our way.  He is interested in changing us into the image of Jesus.

Producing “fruit in keeping with repentance”, means that changes in our approach to the New Year are inward. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to John for baptism because they thought it was a popular thing to do.  John would have none of it.

“What do you think you are doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin.” (The Message)

It’s a good time of the year to examine ourselves and make inward changes that can make a difference in our personal lives, family lives and church lives.  What inward change would your need to make to write a good year on the 2010 page of your boo?

As a preacher for 50 years I have always encouraged us to be involved in the local family of God.  Belonging to a church reinforces our faith.  A Christian without a church is like a football player without a team. It’s like a Marine without a unit.  It’s like a family meal without a family.

Your Family in a New Year

January 2, 2009
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For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? Luke 9:25

What would a man give?  What would you give? What would anyone give?  But, alas, we can’t have it back.  The past is gone and the future is now.

The real valuable things are things that last a lifetime and beyond.  It always seemed ironic to me that a man who plays sports would give so much time to it that his family is neglected.  He can play sports for a few years and then he becomes a spectator.   Fantasy football is his passion.

When we really consider it, our work life is only about 30 years and by reason of strength we may get in forty.  (This is my forty-eighth year in preaching.)  Our work takes a large chunk of our time and energy.  But who gets married without the hope of celebrating that Golden Anniversary? 

We can spend a lifetime doing our thing and neglect the weightier matters of life.  I want to encourage all of us to change the word lifetime to wifetime and make our homes more of what God intends for us.  Spending more time with the wife of our youth can pay great dividends for a long and successful existence on the earth.

      Work that last for 40 years is nothing compared to 50+ years with a wife and family.  The end of a year brings together families and most are happy occasions.  For some there is regret at the failure of families to enjoy get-togethers and share in the wholesomeness of families.

For those of us who still have time to make the best of family life, we will need to get back to fundamentals. The advice that Jesus gave to the Church in Ephesus is appropriate for us to regain our family and our faith: Repent and do the things you did at first. (Revelation 2:5)   Go back to spending wifetime and you might see some really major changes in your life for the New Year.

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