Can you believe
another year is in the books? Time marches relentlessly onward without asking
for either our consent or approval. 2023 isn’t even cold yet and 2024 is
already relentlessly marching forward. Nothing you and I can do will ever get
that time back. With each passing day we creep closer towards time’s end. But,
as always, with Jesus there is good news. * 2024 will bring with it days of
defeat and satisfying success. * 2024 will bring with it both sadness and extraordinary
joy. * 2024 will bring days of suffering balanced with days of healing. * 2024
will bring with it days of loss and others of enrichment. *For some 2024 will
bring with it a day of finality.
But there will
not be a single day in 2024 that you will have to encounter alone! We have One
who can lift us up from defeat, comfort us in sadness and sustain us through
suffering. There is One who can truly place momentary loss into eternal
perspective. And not to be forgotten, we have each other, charged with the duty
of sharing in life’s highs and lows (Romans 12:12-15) and with bearing “one
another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).
While we are
powerless to keep time from sifting through our lives like sand through our
fingers, we can do something about how we spend it. While much time will fall
wasted at the feet of humanity, as a follower of Christ you can use your time
to God’s glory and time will ultimately deposit you in His timeless glory.
John Denver was
an excellent aircraft pilot. He was trained well and experienced. When on his
last flight gauges showed his fuel tank near empty, he started looking for a
landing site, but none was seen. Investigators said that he had switched to a
second, reserve, fuel tank, but it didn’t matter. The plane went down; John Denver
died. And the reason that the spare fuel didn’t matter is a warning for all of
us. For even with all his expertise, he still neglected during pre-flight to
see if the reserve fuel tank was full or empty. The Christian, Peter said,
needs to make sure that every part of one’s Christian life is nurtured
and growing, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, with “diligence.”
Neglecting one part can have eternal consequences (2 Peter 1:5-11).
[Matthew 6:33] God
and Christ must be first in our lives, and not second. Jesus says, “But seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (v.
25-32) shall be added to you.” Our number one priority in this short life must
be to go to Heaven or otherwise we most likely will not go there. Jesus says,
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). If one doesn’t go to Heaven, there is only one
other place and that is the eternal torments of Hell. “For what will it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Mark 8:36).
We cannot put
other people and other things ahead of our service and worship to God and
Christ and still be pleasing to Them. They will not accept second best. Jesus
says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he
who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not
take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38).
Jesus says the only way we can be worthy of God and Him is, “…you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). We are to “Set your mind on things
above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2). God is only “a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6), by putting Him first. Are we
really putting God and Christ first in our lives? Judgment Day will be too late
to find out if we haven’t. It is my prayer you experience an enriched 2024.
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