daily devotional

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Back to the basics for the New Year

Making New Year’s resolutions today? I’ve done my share over the years, but until the end of the year I don’t even remember them. In this guest post, Mary Jane Smith suggests we stick to the basics — God’s basics.

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Packing Up

II Cor. 5: 17  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year.  Especially here in Florida, I miss the four seasons of Ohio – but I certainly do not miss the cold, rainy, snowy winters there!

Today as I started my day, I thought back to my Holiday decoration and the pleasure I receive from the sparkling white lights and the ornaments collected over my lifetime.  Some are treasured ones passed down from family who have long ago gone to be with Jesus.  Some are lovingly hand-painted and were given to me this year.  Each one represents a time and a story from my life and special people and events that touched my life.

I sigh as I realize as quickly as it came, Christmas is over for this year, and I must face the “take-down” process . . . the boxing and storing of precious items to wait for another year to be brought out and carefully placed again next year.  As everything gets put away, I remember when I was younger, this was my day to make my resolutions!  I no longer sit down and “make a list” like I did back then.

However, I do meditate on what Jesus has brought me through during the year.  Only He knows what I will face as the New Year dawns.  I review areas of my life that need attention and pray for His guidance to either alter or change areas completely as He points them out to me.  My goals have become less dramatic as I age.  I am no longer focused on “making a living”, so much as “making a life” that pleases my Father.

As I look around the living room, now clear of the Holiday decorations, it is back to basics.  This reminds me that God wants us always to go back to His basics — prayer, Bible study, and worship.  If I continue to stay connected to my Father through prayer; remain immersed in His Word; and faithfully gather with my church family to worship, I will not need to depend on resolutions to make the New Year a better year.

God already knows what the coming year holds for each of us.  So, for a wonderful New Year all we need is to stay connected to our Father and walk the path He directs regardless of the circumstances.  We will be able to look back and like Paul, we can say . . . “the old has gone, the new has come.”

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Trees by the Water (A reminder)

This is a re-post (with minor changes)  from the first year of this blog.
More importantly, at the threshold of a new year, it is a reminder to myself of where I want to be and to Whom I owe the life I’m living.

Trees by the Water

Just a short personal story to explain this photo, a small portion of which I use as my photo ID across the web.

I was vacationing with friends. When we arrived at our rented vacation home, the bedroom situation wasn’t quite what we had expected, and we found ourselves short one bedroom. There were tiny ripples of disappointment and frustration throughout the house. I was road weary and just wanted to settle in. I took the couch in the library as my bed.

On top of the weariness and disappointment, I had too many noisy voices in my head that day. I was in the process of trying to sort out whether or not to leave a long-time job. Confused. Doubtful. Arguing with myself, going ’round in circles. I was torn between old ways and habits of thinking and new paths I felt called to follow …

Did I mention how tired I was?

Not too many weeks before, the Lord’s promise in Jeremiah 17:7-8 had seared itself into my heart.

“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”

This was the life I wanted to live!
I had made the decision to put all my eggs into one basket — into God’s hands.

But that night on the couch in Roque Bluffs, I was so weary. Under siege by doubts, discouragement, and self-criticism, I was at the point of giving up on what seemed like an impossible new life. When I went to bed that first night, darkness had fallen outside — and seeped into my mind and my heart.

But when I opened my eyes to morning light, the first imprint on my brain was the view you see in the photo. Without putting on my glasses or even lifting my head from my pillow, I saw green trees outlined against a shimmering stretch of silver sea.

Trees by the water.

I had a perfect view, from my bed on the couch. No other bed in the house had that view, that I needed, on that day.

God said, “Trust me.”

I slept on the couch for a week, waking each morning to the view of green trees by the water and the reminder, “Trust me.”

And, if you look verrrry closely at the photograph, there I sit at water’s edge… learning to be a tree planted by the water.

　

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He knows what He’s doing … even when I do not

I like having my ducks in a row.
But sometimes I can’t even find all my ducks.

I like knowing The Plan — what the goal is and how we’re going to get there, a neat and direct road map.
But sometimes I feel as though I have no idea where I’m headed and I’m just hacking my way through the thick underbrush.

I like lists. Even more, I like scratching things off my list. Knowing I’ve accomplished and I’ve progressed.
But sometimes all I can see is that I’ve taken two baby steps forward and five giant steps backwards.

I have been reminded constantly this week that God uses everything in our lives for our good. “Every crumb,” someone else wrote.*  Yes, even the evil meant to harm us.  The weakness that frustrates us. The failure that we lament. The thorns in our lives that we think limit our growth or our ministry and we wish God would remove. Those thorns in our lives are often our own shortcomings, the areas in which we are weakest, or wounds that do not seem to be heal.

C. S. Lewis  wrote, “Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.”**

I would like to add that the mysteries of our lives — the whys and the why-nots are no mystery to our Father. He is working through all of it, even though we feel as though all we get done some days is hack through a few more inches of underbrush. God has a much bigger view of what is happening to us on those days.

These two Scriptures are so familiar that I fear the words often flow in one ear and out the other, and the heartbeat of God found here never has a chance to settle into our brains and then reverberate into every part of our souls. As you think about these words today, ask God to hear His heartbeat of love for you.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28).

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:10).

 

 

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* I am sorry that I cannot remember where I read this. If that Someone Else was you, please know that your words were part of God’s message to me this week. Thank you.

** From The Problem of Pain

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Waiting for the Promised One

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
He has sent us a mighty Savior …
just as he promised …
Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.”
(from Luke 1)

This is what we have just celebrated: God, coming to us and rescuing us from the enemies of our souls so that we can serve Him without fear.

Those lines could be our Christmas song of praise and gratitude. But they come from Luke 1, Zechariah’s prophecy. Zechariah had been unable to speak for nine months, from the time a messenger angel had told him he would have a son who would prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. Now, on the day his infant son John is named, Zechariah suddenly bursts out with this praise and prophecy.

The main characters in the scenes of the opening chapters of Luke were all waiting for the time when God’s promises would be fulfilled. They longed for rescue from the oppression of their enemies. They had waited for generations for God to fulfill His promise and send someone who would set their nation free.

And then the Promised One came!

The promised rescue was even larger than God’s people had dreamed: This Messiah saves from those who can kill the soul. And God, in His kindness, extends that rescue beyond Israel to anyone who desires it.

And so, in one sense we celebrate what we know right now, at this moment in God’s history: Jesus can rescue us from the enemies of our souls so we can serve our God without fear and in holiness and righteousness.

Yet we too still wait and look forward to the final, all-encompassing rescue—when Christ appears again on the earth and sets up His kingdom and ALL of life is redeemed and restored. I suspect the fulfillment of this promise, too, will be far beyond anything we dream of now.

He is the Beginning and the End and we wait, here in the middle,  for the Promised One to come …

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Birth of Hope

Now what?

We have just paused in our year to commemorate the birth of the one we say is King.

Now what?

After that night in the stable, Mary and Joseph still had to tend to the business that had brought them to Bethlehem. Could Mary rest while Joseph reported to the census officials? Did they find a room somewhere for a few days? Or were they faced the next day with a long trip home? We know the shepherds returned to their flocks (although they were telling everyone they met about what had happened), and I’m sure the innkeeper was busy with all his other guests and the constant traffic in and out of the town. Life went back to …busy life.

And today we go on with our daily lives.

Last year, I wrote about our “ruined” Christmas. Through everything that happened, I  caught a glimpse of the real story of Christmas—Christ the Light coming into our darkness and Christ our Hope coming into our hopelessness.

This year, the message of good tidings of great joy that has been with me all month is that Christ the Answer comes into my every day.

Prophecies foretold the destiny of the child who would be born:

For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6 NLT).

While those prophecies were given to a nation and spoke of one who would rule on a grand scale, they are also meant on a very personal level for each one who believes God’s promises.

The government will rest on his shoulders. This transforms our view of the world and our own lives. He is the King! Our allegiance is to one who has authority over all of heaven and earth. Our lives go far beyond earthly realms, worldly principles, and political systems. Our King rules all!

He is Wonderful Counselor. We jump from recognition that the universe is under our King’s command to this comfort of a very personal, intimate relationship with the King. He knows us, through and through. He holds all wisdom and truth. His counsel can be trusted to be wise and loving. Don’t we all need just such a Counselor?

He is Mighty God. I need a mighty God. I need to know that I can trust in something mightier than human effort and influence. I need to know my God goes beyond all natural, social, and political “laws” I observe at work in this world. I need to worship Someone greater than our own man-made idols.  

He is Everlasting Father. I just finished a novel that won a Pulitzer Prize. I read as a writer; that is, I was fascinated at the skillful techniques the author used, especially to develop characters. Yet I finished the book feeling unsatisfied and flat. Why? Because the book held so little hope. There was not even a whisper of God. Characters grew old and some died. And what hope did they find in life? Only a greater “self-awareness.” Sorry, that’s not enough for me. I need eternal and everlasting. I need hope in a loving God who says “Come to me, and I’ll give you life. All of life, as I intended you to have when I birthed you.”

He is Prince of Peace. Whether it’s on a world-wide scale or private and personal, we all crave peace. Jesus said, “I give it to you.” The world knows nothing of peace—not how to create it, give it, or maintain it. The Prince of Peace holds the key, He is the only Way, to the peace we all seek.

And so this Christmas season, the old prophecies have rung in my ears to tell me this baby born in a stable came to bring me everything I need, every day of my life.

Another of God’s promises concerning Jesus is that He is “a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken (Isaiah 28:16).”

Good tidings of great joy! We have a precious cornerstone on which to build our lives, and we need never be shaken.

That birth in Bethlehem was the birth of hope for all of us.