So it is almost next year as i sit here at a quarter till 7 on December 31, 2008 and i have just been thinking: what is the big deal with these new years? I mean honestly we have to buy new calenders and sign some things a little differently, and i am sure there are some other things but i bet if we are honest with ourselves we wouldn’t be able to think of anything, of real weight or substance that this new year actually is. Honestly the new year only represents certain, specific things in an individual’s mind. We call them by nice, important sounding names like resolutions, goals, or strategies but what are they really besides our own personal resolutions, goals, or strategies… these are just words, put together to motivate us emotionally. Here i will prove it, they go something like this: “My new year’s resolutions are: words, words, words!“, or “My strategy for this year is: words, words, and more words!” Now think about that, you the individual can put any words you want there! And if you the individual can put anything that you want, however big or small, right or wrong, serious or stupid, spiritual or secular, then how important can this new year actually be? I know that some of you are probably quoting some scriputres at me or something like “your words have life or death power” or “if we don’t have vision we perish” and i am certianly not going to argue with those. But i just want you to answer me this: does the new year actually represent anything besides a mindset? No! So as someone in Christ (a Christian), who has the mind of Christ, what is any different tonight at midnight than any other night at midnight… or any time for that matter!?!? Nothing! In fact when Christ was raised up on that cross and drew all men to Himself, the calendar that we are celebrating tonight wasn’t even a thought in anyone’s head yet!
The point i am making is this, we must be careful not to get caught up in the externals, the temporal things. I hate seeing believers at these new years putting all their hope and trust on their words, on their diligence or discipline, on their strength and power.
Check out what the Apostle Paul says to the Church in Corinth about this in 1 Corinthians 4:6-20…
6 so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
7 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8 You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
You see it isn’t about us at all, our resolutions, goals, or strategies, for all we have is words that lead to death. That is the reality outside of Christ. Power is only found in Christ which is exactly where the believer is found. If we are to build up this Kingdom as we glorify our King then our words are useless, as the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power!
As we change out our calendars and have to akwardly adjust to now writing 2009 instead of the familiar 2008, let us grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ. Let us understand that our ways are found in Christ! Amen.
Or here…