Jan 1 – 1 Corinthians 9:27 27 No,
I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached
to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
This verse reminds me that my first priority is to be beyond reproach as a
husband, a father, a member of my church, and a witness in my community.
As I approach a new year, I’m not one to make resolutions
simply because I’m hanging a new calendar on the wall. I’ve always
believed every day is a gift from God and one in which he might demand radical
physical, emotional, or spiritual changes or adjustments. In fact, I
worry about well-meaning Christians who use the new year as a forcing function
to set lofty goals and then seek God’s endorsement and help. To set goals
and ask for God’s assistance puts me in the Lordship role which clearly God
demands exclusively for himself. I guess I worry that I might set goals
that aren't congruent with God's specific will and at least could rob energy
needed to do His will and at worst could actually pull me outside of His good
and perfect will. Instead, I think I should constantly be looking for His
guidance and challenges and moving to adjust to His activity in and around
me.
Considering that then, I believe I have two significant
challenges for the next year. Losing just over 30 pounds last year and
needing to lose about that much this year clearly exposes the sin of gluttony
in my life. I cannot be a positive witness for Christ if I am
disqualified due to “living in sin.” I am feeling called to take a courageous
stand for Truth (John 14:6) and do not want to be disqualified because of
unconquered sin. Clearly I stand not just in need of a Savior, but a Lord
who can provide the grace and discipline I need that I can't generate on my
own.
More importantly, its become painfully obvious that I’ve
lost my spiritual zeal. Devotions have become a forced exercise rather
than a time of revelry with my first love. Clearly I need to work through
this and need some additional accountability to keep me focused until daily
devotions not only become a habit again, but become a time I look forward to
with true eagerness.
The real bottom line for me this year is a renewed sense of
urgency to ensure that God is truly Lord of each and every detailed aspect of
my life. Only then can I be assured that my life will have any
significance, particularly in an eternal sense. To make him Lord,
however, I’ve got to improve my attitude towards true daily devotion (as
opposed to just reading some inspirational or thought provoking passage).
Perhaps a daily devotion should be focused on understanding God’s will and how
to make him Lord. This will be the focus of today’s prayers.
1 comment:
I have found that when a daily read is mundane and un-exciting, when I dread taking the time to read a 2-minute devotion, and when I am having to force the work to try to have a devotion is within me then I am is in real trouble. Ultimately, the devotions just get dropped. There should be a "sense of urgency" regarding our "spiritual zeal" as you say. ... Part of me thinks that I get too relaxed with topics I think I know. I wonder if I crave input from others who are wise and can throw insights at me that I would have never considered. And instead of doing the extra work of reading other authors for each daily devotion and spending even more time and intensity on it, I drop out. Part of me wonders if I can take the 30 minutes required instead of the 5 I had planned. But then, if it took us an hour to walk to God everyday to hear 5 minutes of wisdom, would we do it? How far would the walk have to be before we wouldn't go? Should there be a distance we wouldn't go?
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