Read: Ecclesiastes 7:8-10
II Corinthians 13:1-10
Ephesians 5:11-16
Philippians 2:14-15
Philippians 3:7-15
Romans 12:1
Romans 6:12-14
Romans 6:19
Matthew 5:13-16
Some of you can’t wait for the good days you are confident lie ahead. In two and a half days, you will joyfully welcome in a new year of possibilities, and you can’t help but think ahead. But, what makes us think it will be different?
I want for us to understand together that God does not want us to merely sit around and wait passively for the future fulfillment of His promises, nor does He want us to sit around and celebrate the victories of the past, or wallow in our defeats.
God desires that both the past and future shape our lives for faithfulness, service, and commitment to Him and His mission in the present…today. Our attitudes towards both the past and the future, are affecting how we conduct our lives today.
In II Corinthians 13 Paul charges a sort of personal inventory of faith. Examine yourselves…test yourselves. Why? To see how Christ is at work within you, to see what might need to change, that we may do what is right and be restored, if necessary, in Christ.
I don’t know if 2013 was your best year yet or if it feels like a complete disaster and you are just glad it is over. I do know this. That whatever yesterday held, we can learn from it in honest evaluation, and set anything that holds us back aside in order to pursue Jesus more fully.