January always brings reflections and resolutions. Looking at our past can be painful and it also can be encouraging. To see what God has done in and through our lives sometimes leaves us at a loss for words. To relive the hard and difficult times can bring back pain that is difficult to manage. And to cast a personal vision for the new year that is unreasonable just leaves us in despair when reality hits that we aren’t going to be able to pull it off!
While thinking along those lines a couple of weeks ago I really began to ask myself what is reasonable and attainable for me and you. Here’s what I came up with and I hope that this will help us all to be more for Christ in the coming year. Ready? Here goes….
One, realize we don’t have to have it all together for God to use us. Remember a guy names Moses? He led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through forty years of trials in the wilderness. Yet this man was a murderer, couldn’t talk very well, and was prone to losing his temper (Exodus 32:19-20). Don’t forget David, a man after God’s own heart, who committed adultery, had a man killed (2 Samuel 12:9), and is still listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of the faith. He also wrote many of the Psalms which bring so much comfort to hurting hearts. Remember the 23rd Psalm? David wrote it. So don’t think you’ve got to have your life perfect before God will bless you!
Two, understand that God has uniquely gifted all of us for His special purposes. He has gifted some physically to be able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Well, not literally, but you get the idea. Some folks are just blessed from a physical standpoint. It might be with physical strength or abilities, with special talents musically, intellectually, or just with a great knack to get things done. And He has given everyone who has trusted in His Son one or more spiritual gifts to use for His Kingdom. If you don’t know what your gifts are find out and use them this year for His service. You will be blessed!
Thirdly, know God may have to do something in you before He can do something through you. Moses had to spend forty years on the backside of the desert before he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt. David had to contend with something like thirteen years of being hounded and threatened by Saul before he became the King of Israel. Even God’s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to endure the Cross before He could set us free.
What does He want to do through you and me in the coming year? I don’t know the answer to that one, but I can tell you this, 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’. All I can tell you is that in the long run it’s going to be good!
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