Seven words of exhortation for the new year:
1) Commit yourself to daily intake of God's word.
Read - Nehemiah 8:18 He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day.
Meditate - Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
Memorize - Psalm 119:52 I have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O LORD, and comfort myself.
2) Commit yourself to the meeting of the church.
Hebrews 10:24 Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.
When you regularly attend your local fellowship, submit yourself to leadership, and commit to using your spiritual gifts you open yourself up to more opportunities to corporate worship, accountability with sins, transformation by the preaching of the word culminating in a lifestyle that is increasingly obedient to God's will for your life.
3) Commit yourself to mortifying sins.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
James 4:7 also says Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Prayer and communion with God is key to our battle against the flesh. We are never nearer to God than when we are kneeling at the cross. Sin will drive a wedge between you and the Lord and cause callousness in different areas of your life. The longer you go without waging war with your sin the more difficult it is to hear the Lord speaking in your life.
4) Commit yourself to hospitality.
1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Without qualification the bible calls us to show Christ's love to the world by being hospitable to all by giving of our gifts and talents. We've been bought with a price therefore everything we have is a gift from God and should be freely surrendered for His glory.
5) Commit yourself to dealing with unnecessary distractions.
1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
We've been given the freedom to watch hours of T.V., eat junk food, drink alcohol, stay up al night, get tattoos, befriend all types of people, wear all kinds of clothing, but not all things profit our walk with the Lord. I encourage you to examine distractions that do not directly point you to the character of God. Consider cutting out one or two of these things so that you'll be found focusing on your relationship with the Lord a little more this year.
6) Commit yourself to study.
Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
When each of us began our Christian walk we were given the basics of Christianity. This was all that we could handle for a time but now we should press on to understand the more difficult yet glorious truths of the bible. Consider reading a biography of one of the heros of the faith (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgen) or an over view of church history. Ask a friend to recommend a book about the attributes of God or one of the central doctrines of the bible such as R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God, A.W. Pink's The Attributes of God, or D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Studies on the Sermon on the Mount. Or read a book on how we got the bible.
7) Enjoy the rich benefits of a sanctified Lord's day.
In creation God set aside one day in seven to rest as a pattern for us to follow. Our bodies need rest as do our souls and it is a beautiful thing to spend one day a week resting and enjoying our relationship with the Lord by attending a worship service and having rich fellowship with our congregation. The temptation is to be busy, or busy doing nothing, but I encourage you to spend time with your family, discuss the sermon over lunch, embark on a small service project, or have some unfamiliar friends over for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment