Today is the last day of 2021.
It is my prayer (if the Lord wills that there be a tomorrow), that each of us looks to the New Year with the excitement of a three-year-old greeting a new day.
Let us rise and sing with the Psalmist:
“This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
Having been blessed with another year in the Lord’s church, it is always wise to consider its victories and defeats. Things have not been easy as churches have been adjusting to the new norms that covid has brought. There has been much separation and sadness to our lives. Things will never be the same, but we go on in the love and strength of the Lord.
Spiritual progress can be hard to tract day-to-day, so it is usually best viewed in the rear-vision mirror of life. It is looking back that we see the nature of the path that we have trodden. This will, of course, tell us who we have been following—ourselves or the Lord.
Jesus continues to invite everyone to follow him. But he has told all in advance that his is an exclusive narrow path. To follow another, including ourselves, is to leave the path and join those on the broad road to perdition. To follow him is to walk in the steps that bring salvation, peace, and purpose.
Let me encourage us to start 2022 by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
John Staiger
0 Comments