Resolutions
Hey gang!
Hope you're having a good start to the new year. I know I am.
Today's blog is about resolutions and it's going to be short. I have a nice story I wrote a couple of days ago and will post it later on in the week. I'm borrowing a computer this morning and the story I have is on Herbie, so it'll have to wait.
Anyway, this little story about resolutions is going to pick up where I last left the blog, which is at Luke 9:23 and is half of my resolution for the new year: " Then he [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (NIV)
The words just kind of jumped out at me the other day. There are two important parts of this... the first one is the part about "deny themselves". For me, that means putting away the things I wanted, letting go of some things, and putting others first. This is an important, yet very difficult lesson I've learned. I had a chance last night to share this principle with someone. The second part of this is about "take up their cross daily and follow me."
As I shared this passage, I talked about what that means to me. It's a commitment to bear the burdens of life, whatever they are, wherever they're found. I then explained how I could do that. It's a very simple explanation. I have the Bible, I have Jesus to help me when those burdens get heavy, and I have God to lay before me the path I need to carry my cross down. Somehow, as I look at what is or may be on my "cross", the burden doesn't seem so heavy.
The second part of my new year's resolution is this, again from the Bible., this time from Luke 10:25-28 (NIV):
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Sometimes we're so focused on the here and now, we tend to lose sight of the hereafter. This is but a short journey; shorter than it used to be, for sure. I've spent the last couple of days thinking about the past, not mourning for this or that, but just kind of thinking that I wasted a lot of years focusing on here and now, on me, on what I wanted. I missed so much of what was happening around me and the foolish thing is that I never saw it.
My resolution? To continue to live these two passages. To pick up my cross EVERY day and to live verse 27 to the best of my ability. 2011 will bring many changes in my life. Right now, I don't know what they are; just that they are. It's nice to know I can face those changes with a new-found strength and knowing that I'm not facing them alone. What happens now is God's will.
My will, my resolution, and my resolve is to do His will in my life and share his word with others, that they may know the joy and peace I do.
Bless all y'all, and thanks as always for reading the blog.
Hope you're having a good start to the new year. I know I am.
Today's blog is about resolutions and it's going to be short. I have a nice story I wrote a couple of days ago and will post it later on in the week. I'm borrowing a computer this morning and the story I have is on Herbie, so it'll have to wait.
Anyway, this little story about resolutions is going to pick up where I last left the blog, which is at Luke 9:23 and is half of my resolution for the new year: " Then he [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (NIV)
The words just kind of jumped out at me the other day. There are two important parts of this... the first one is the part about "deny themselves". For me, that means putting away the things I wanted, letting go of some things, and putting others first. This is an important, yet very difficult lesson I've learned. I had a chance last night to share this principle with someone. The second part of this is about "take up their cross daily and follow me."
As I shared this passage, I talked about what that means to me. It's a commitment to bear the burdens of life, whatever they are, wherever they're found. I then explained how I could do that. It's a very simple explanation. I have the Bible, I have Jesus to help me when those burdens get heavy, and I have God to lay before me the path I need to carry my cross down. Somehow, as I look at what is or may be on my "cross", the burden doesn't seem so heavy.
The second part of my new year's resolution is this, again from the Bible., this time from Luke 10:25-28 (NIV):
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Sometimes we're so focused on the here and now, we tend to lose sight of the hereafter. This is but a short journey; shorter than it used to be, for sure. I've spent the last couple of days thinking about the past, not mourning for this or that, but just kind of thinking that I wasted a lot of years focusing on here and now, on me, on what I wanted. I missed so much of what was happening around me and the foolish thing is that I never saw it.
My resolution? To continue to live these two passages. To pick up my cross EVERY day and to live verse 27 to the best of my ability. 2011 will bring many changes in my life. Right now, I don't know what they are; just that they are. It's nice to know I can face those changes with a new-found strength and knowing that I'm not facing them alone. What happens now is God's will.
My will, my resolution, and my resolve is to do His will in my life and share his word with others, that they may know the joy and peace I do.
Bless all y'all, and thanks as always for reading the blog.
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