Covenant Presbyterian Church

Picture the year you would like to have. Of what would it consist? More satisfaction in your job? A better job? More quality reading time? Time with family? Getting in shape? A more loving relationship with your spouse? Each of these has its place, but I would suggest we get the New Year thing all wrong. Instead of focusing upon what we would like to accomplish this year, we should instead ask what our heavenly Father would like. And this is not an open-ended question, subject to our whims and fancies, using religious jargon as a façade for selfishness. We have his word to tell us what he would like. And a blessed new year is as simple as living in closer conformity to his word.

If I were to make a few suggestions, I would begin with prayer. Prayer is the barometer of the soul, the secret well of strength, the humble child claiming the promises of a loving Father who promises to do us far more good than we can imagine. Begin each day with prayer - each day. And think for a moment what such a practice will mean and the good it will bring. First, we must use our evenings better, more wisely, to make sure we get to bed at a reasonable hour. Second, it will likely mean we will miss the Late Show this year, completely. Again, a good thing. Third, each day will begin where it should - seeking the Lord, recognizing our weakness and neediness, and claiming his promises. Fourth, it will transform us. Yes, prayer transforms. It transforms us because it makes us more aware of the presence and power of God in our lives - as a promise. Not something we must earn or learn the right formula - as a promise. If we seek him, he promises, we will find him. And finding him, after all, should be the goal of this and every year. Fifth, as we find him in prayer by humbling ourselves before him and believing his promises, he will bring untold blessing into our lives - greater contentment with what he has given us, clearer understanding of how to live for him in the world, more hatred for sin, and more joy in him. Remember, dear believer, prayer is not the comfortable monk rehearsing a few tried and true formulas to feel good about his religiosity - it is Peter drowning in the sea, calling upon Jesus to help him. It is blind Bartimaeus, crying out for the Son of God to have mercy upon him. Pray this way, and the Lord of heaven and earth will hear your cries and bring all the blessings of his covenant to bear upon your lives.

Prayer always leads to Jesus. I challenge you this year to make the seven "I am" statements of our Savior found in the gospel of John your daily bread. "I am the bread:" Jesus, feed me this year with your grace and strength, be my joy and vision, my greatest good. "I am the water of life:" Jesus, refresh my soul today with your life and vigor. Replace my barrenness with your fruitfulness. "I am the light of the world:" Lord Jesus, I am like Solomon, a child, unable to understand my way. Guide me, teach me as my prophet, enlighten my by your Spirit. "I am the good Shepherd:" Jesus, I am prone to wander from you. Protect me from wolves and from my own stubbornness. Preserve me, feed me, and lead me by the still waters of fellowship and peace with you. "I am the Vine:" Lord, I have no strength in myself; you and I both know this. But you are clothed with omnipotence and love; strengthen me that I might serve you. These are not words in a dead book; they are the living ways we must learn to relate to the living Savior. If you will seek Jesus in this fashion, he will be the great "I am" in your life this year, Jehovah-Jesus, the Son of God, Savior of sinners, and lover of your soul.

And be sure to talk about Jesus this year. We often wander what we can do to make the world a better place and how we can advance the gospel. We make it more difficult than it is: talk. Make it your goal to bring the Savior into your daily conversation - giving thanks to him when others praise you, when a blessing comes into your life, when others ask you why your children are behaved and respectful, or why you "waste your time" going to church every Sunday morning. Tell them it is because of Jesus, his love and sacrifice, his life and power. Do not worry that you cannot answer every argument. Too much gospel seed is kept in our basket because of fear and self-doubt. You may doubt yourself all you like but never doubt the power of a simple seed sown for the Savior. His word never returns to him without accomplishing the holy purposes for which he sends it into the world.

And talk to your family about the Savior. You can provide all the best amenities our culture offers. Your children can like you because you buy them the latest gizmos and allow them to participate in every sport and activity. But if you do not talk to them often about Jesus, you have failed as a parent. Make your home Jesus-centered. He is present whether you like it or not. Do not spend the year frustrated because his presence is one of chastening. Embrace the glorious Savior, before whom even the holiest are slightly uncomfortable, and in whom even the smartest find ample cause for humility and simple gospel love. If your home is more Jesus-centered next December than it is today, it has been a good year - even if you have not made the money you would like, or your children are not as well-dressed as others, or if your health is poor. The fashion of the world is fading away; he who builds upon the eternal, glorious Rock, Jesus Christ, will endure forever.

To this I would add the exhortation to be joyful this year. You must, believer, remember this one thing. Whatever happens to you this year, whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus Christ is smiling upon you. This is not sentiment; it is fact. Do you think for one minute that the One who went to the cross on your account, who loved his own to the end, who loves and ravishes his Bride with unspeakable blessing, can look at you with any other affection than blinding, intense, efficacious love? We spend too much time thinking upon our failures; this produces self-absorbed spirituality, morbid introspectionism, and a whole host of religious psychoses that prevent us from enjoying this one fact, this powerful fact, this transforming fact - the Savior of the world loves us. He lives to do us good, to bring the blessing of his accomplished redemption to bear upon our lives, and finally to bring us to heaven to be with him where he is. Think about these truths. Glory in them. Focus upon them. And you will then have his joy fulfilled in you, as he promised. And it will be a good year. Cancer will not make it a bad year. Job loss will not make it a bad year. Marital conflict will not make it a bad year. Jesus Christ, the incomparable Savior, will make it a good year - not through formulas, resolutions, and feelings - but simply because he is. He is who he promises to be. He cannot be otherwise.

Finally I would encourage you to be more promise centered this year - God’s promises, that is. The life of the Christian man is all about promise. Would you enjoy God in worship? Believe his promise that his house is a house of prayer, that he dwells in the praises of Zion, and that he loves the gates of his church. Would you find strength to overcome persistent, besetting sin? Believe God’s promise that "he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, that grace now reigns through righteousness, and that he will never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to bear it. Would you see your children walking in righteousness? Do not trust books, formulas, and experience. Trust God’s covenant promises. Pray them. Live them. He loves your children far more than you do and providentially works in them far more wisely and patiently than you can imagine. Whatever the issue, whatever the challenge, whatever the weakness - believe the promise of God. All things are possible to him who believes.

It will be a great year. Our resolutions will not make it so. The faithfulness and love of our heavenly Father make it so. But be careful not to define a great year by your personal peace and contentment, financial gain, or "things going well." Define it in terms of God and his word. The year belongs to him. The zeal of the Lord of hosts is working out his purposes in your life, in the world, in the church, in every event. Look unto him. There is no other Savior.