My writes

Embracing 2007 with Christ

I was asked by a friend what my new year resolution was. I told her that there is no such thing as a new year resolution for Christians, because we do daily resolutions. That was what Jesus had in mind when He said "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) It speaks of an attitude of submission, and it suggest focus and sustainability. We all need to do that conscientiously because we are called to conform to the image of Christ.

Nevertheless, we all love milestones. I would agree that the closing of 2006 is chronologically convenient to pause and reflect upon the year. We thank the Lord for all His grace and blessings in abundance that He has flourished our lives with. We seek His mercy and forgiveness for our trespasses for we are not perfect, and we do stumble along the way too. By His strength, we are able to win by surrendering to Him alone. We pick ourselves up again to continue the race He has set before us.

As we chart our way into the unknowns of 2007, Jesus has got to be our priority numero uno - no compromise. If you claim to love God with all your hearts and with all your soul and with all your mind, you will know what it means by putting Jesus first ahead of everything else in your life. And He has a promise to match that : "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask whatever ye will, it shall be done onto thee" (John 15:7). Keep Jesus close by communing and internalizing His words.

Begin to stride forward in faith. Step out of the comfort zone. Many of you would agree that God's favourite meeting place with you and I is in places of extremities. Unless we push ourselves to that sphere of extremities, we will never be able to experience God in His full power and glory. Faith, like muscles, needs exercise - it needs action. I am completely convinced that faith and action exist together, and that faith and non-action is an oxymoron. It's really that simple : if I don't dare to do, that means I don't have faith. And what would that mean? God will not be pleased with me, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Hey...if you wanna walk on water, you gotta step out of the boat, mate.

There is a race set before us that we're all participating. A race that will take the entire lifetime for us to run it. A race where at the end of it, we will exchange our cross for our crown - with a condition that we finish it, and finish strong. Therefore we need to keep the end in mind : finishing the race, and finishing it strong. 2007 is just another insignificant strip of the time fabric of your existence on this earth. What we do in this insignificant block of time has significant eternal consequences.

posted by Mel-Vern @ 8:47 PM