How did you bring in the New Year? Likely some of you celebrated with a few close friends, some dressed formally for large gatherings while others were in their pajamas and fell asleep before the clock struck midnight. Some kissed a love one while others wished for or missed a special loved one. Some were full of gratitude and confidence, and perhaps others of you felt somewhat lonely or fearful. Some shouted, some toasted, some sang and others may have “prayed in” the New Year.I remember many things that my dad, who was an elder in the church for many years, said that impacted me greatly. One of them went something like this: “When I made the decision to make Jesus Lord, it was an all encompassing decision that made so many other decisions (reading my Bible, praying, always being there when the church meets) non issues. I already made those decisions when I made Jesus Lord”.
To me that is simple yet profound. Do my everyday choices reflect that one big decision? For me that decision, that resolution which I made at my baptism 43 years ago when I was just a teen still affects every aspect of my life….the way I think, what I choose to do, what I read, what I watch, words I say, how I spend my time, with whom I spend time….It affects everything!!
The day I was baptized someone (I don’t even remember who) gave me some simple yet sage advice. I pass it on to all I speak to after they are baptized. They told me to go home and read Colossians 3, (which sort of summed up what I’d just done) and to remember to put four actions into my life every day. They were to read my Bible, spend time in prayer with my God, have some spiritual interaction with another disciple and to share with someone what Jesus means to me.
While I have striven to do this, I’ve certainly fallen short many times. Whenever I feel like my love for Jesus gets complacent or difficult circumstances of life take over my thinking, I can usually look back to these things and find one or more that I am neglecting. While I don’t wish to trivialize or put a relationship with God in a “box”, there are certain spiritual disciplines without which we will all grow cold in our love for the Lord. Every relationship takes time and attention. God has given his all. How about us?
I will share a few paragraphs from an article by Robert Boyd Munger entitled, “My Heart Christ’s Home”. Here the author goes through several rooms of a home depicting what it is like when the room is filled with Jesus. The following paragraphs are his description of one of the rooms called the drawing room. In this analogy Jesus is speaking from this room and says:
“I will be here every morning. Meet with Me here and we will start the day together.” So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and He would take a book of the Bible, open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truths….They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the drawing room the “withdrawing room”. It was a period when we had quiet time together.
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened….I began to miss a day now and then….I would miss it two days in a row and often more…..
I remember one day when I was in a hurry….As I passed the drawing room, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there….”Blessed Master, forgive me. Have you been here all these mornings?”
“Yes,” He said, “I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you.” Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked His forgiveness and He readily forgave me….
He said, “The trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also.”
As you live out this new year may your relationship with the Lord be the source of your joy and strength, as well as the basis for all your decisions. I pass on the above advice given to me many years ago. May this be your best year yet as you grow closer and help others draw closer to the Lord each day.
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Happy New Year from Women Today!
