Well, whether you are ready for it or not, 2017 is here! I’m sure that you (like me and many others) may have already made some New Year’s resolutions?! I’d like to ask you a few things about your resolutions.
What is it that you are planning on accomplishing this year? Are any of your resolutions focused on Jesus?
I asked myself those same questions a few years back. The thought of “What am I resolved to do for Jesus this year?” really made me stop and think. With a new year in front of me, my “Resolution to God” is simply this — I will make every opportunity in my life into an opportunity to be useful for Jesus!
My son has a quote hanging in his bedroom (from one of my heroes in the faith — John Wesley). It reads, “God grant that I may never live to be useless.” That is a truly powerful prayer. It is one that I am claiming as my very own this year. I am asking God to allow me to be more USEFUL for His Kingdom (Matthew 6:33), to be more USEFUL in the lives of the lost (1 Peter 3:15), and in my prayers (Colossians 4:2), and to be more USEFUL in the lives of those hurting (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Truthfully, I realize in committing myself to these kind of goals, failure is certain. So, that’s why my resolution isn’t really about me, it’s about what I am asking God to do IN me.
In John 15:5 Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” This is the promise I am going to rest in. I’m going to hold more tightly than ever to Jesus this year. I am going to cling more closely to Jesus this year. I am going to abide more deeply in Jesus this year. I am convinced that the closer I am to my Savior, the more useful I will be in this world.
That is my goal this year — to make every day and every opportunity into one that is USEFUL for Him.
What about you, Christian? Would you consider joining me?
Resolved,
Bryan
Posted in A Word from the Pastor