Uncommon New Years goals

This Sunday I got to go to church………….. Here are some things I thought were pretty neat to ponder on.
The pastor started off by asking how many of us thought 2009 was a good year? I thought it odd that no one raised their hand because I didn’t think 2009 was bad, per-say. I do not live in a bubble and realize there are some pretty major things that made 2009 not very pleasant:
~America is beginning to realize the weight of their poor presidential choices when they elected a man that wasn’t qualified to take the presidential office. However, due to that poor choice we are seeing end times prophecy fulfilled very quickly!
~We live in an area of Florida that has been hit hard by the economy and people have lost homes and jobs all around the USA. Despite this, God still continues to use trials to strengthen our faith and take care of His people all over the globe, even if it is not the same way He used to take care of them!
The pastor went on to say that this year 2010 IS whatever we chose to make of it. We can choose to have joy and show others, that the light of the Lord lives in us OR we can choose to focus on circumstances which either rob us of our joy and/or get our focus off the Lord. To further his point of choosing joy in the New Year he went to the be-attitudes in Matt 5:3-16 to get the full understanding of what we should seek after.
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
I love that he pointed out the fact that these things that follow "Blessed are the……." in the passages above, are not typically on the "goals list" for the New Year. He joked that if he held a seminar titled with the following list he probably wouldn’t get any takers. :o) To be poor in spirit (spiritually bankrupt), to mourn, to be meek(power under control), to be persecuted, to have lies spread about you because of the Jesus………. Hmmmm, these are usually never things we aspire to, or ask for. However, what if we did ask for these things? Would we then have the radiant love of Christ that could not be masked by circumstance, trial or menial everyday tasks? Wouldn’t Jesus be faithful to fulfill them through us!
Then came his analogy on verse 6, about hunger and thirsting for righteousness. The word Righteousness here, from the Greek, means Equity of Character. If we are to have a life that is hungering and thirsting for a character that has worth or equity, the only way we can achieve such a character is to seek spiritual food. The Bible.
When an infant is born it needs to eat often, but he doesn’t really eat much each time. Likewise a baby Christian, NEEDS to be nourished by the word more often than just once a day. Since new believers are fighting many spiritual battles with old worldly patterns of behavior, their intake of the word may need to be frequent and in short spurts. This can be accomplished by listening to bible studies, posting scriptures around the house to memorize them, accountability groups and time alone with the Lord.
As the child grows into adulthood, his meals get larger, but he eats less frequently. As an older believer, I know I can become slack in nurturing my spiritual life and taking in the larger portions. Sometimes we can be fooled into thinking the snack-sized portions are good enough because we already know a lot of what the bible says. This misconception of necessity, doesn’t take into account our continual spiritual bankruptcy! It doesn’t consider, that God uses his word, daily, to speak to us personally according to whatever our current situation is. God, in His foreknowledge, also sees what will be coming ahead of us and if we are seeking after Him for those larger portions, we may not miss His gentle warning or preparation of what is to come. The verse here says we are to continually hunger and thirst for righteousness. We are not to snack on or nibble on it, but to really seek after the meat found in the word. If we do not, we will not be filled, prepared or focused for what God has in store. He wants us to desire larger portions, dig deeper, study more and get to the heart of what God is telling us, rather than being satisfied to our current head knowledge or daily reading. Many times this means getting out of our comfort zones and when we "don’t feel like it" pray and ask the Lord to renew our hunger and thirst!
Another analogy he used was a boxing analogy. You have 2 boxers of equal skill that are scheduled to fight. One is eating in order to be competitive bulking up on protein, carbs and veggies, while the other is just snacking on bread. The one who is eating to compete will win because he will have the energy needed to complete the task. It is the same with our daily intake from the word. If we are eating to win the race and to keep our focus on the Lord, our portion with the Lord will be complete so that our walk be a living witness to others. If we are just nibbling or snacking, weariness has the ability to take over and take out focus off the Lord. Thresult of this is similar to the salt that has lost its flavor and a light put under a basket.
If many of us who make those New Years resolutions, did so by sticking to the words in this passage alone, could we be the salt and light that was referred to in the verses 13-16? Never thought my New Years goals would have to do with those things but it is apparent that if we want to radiate Christ and be effective in our walks, these are the qualities that God says we need!