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| Looking
Ahead
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It’s the time of
year when we tend to look ahead and wonder what’s coming in
the new year. It’s the time of year when we tend to look
back and see what has happened in the past year. Both of these
views are important, the latter necessary to make good on the
former.
I should like to suggest some things we should look for in the
coming year.
We need to look out for time. Time is all we have.
It’s the stuff of which life is composed, and it's therefore
important what use we make of it. Time misused is not just a
shame, it may even be a sin. Procrastination is a constant
problem. It has been in the past and it will be in the future.
We have such a short amount of time that it behooves us to
protect and care for it meticulously. For one thing, it is not
time to rest. The scriptures say “there remaineth therefore
a rest for the people of God.” They also speak of
“redeeming the time,” the implication being that we buy it
up for an effective use. Leisure time is good; but it should
be the exception, not the rule. It is something to be earned,
then enjoyed. We must guard our time. It’s all we have.
(Read Hebrews 4:9)
We need to look to our plea. We have a plea for a
return to New Testament Christianity. It is a plea that not
only makes good sense, but has eternal ramifications. Its
importance is seen in what it does–it makes Christians,
saved people. It makes churches, saved people. It recommends
Jesus as the hope of the world. It is distinctive in that it
treats man’s inner most being, not just his physical and
social needs. It is distinctive in that it has no worldly
organization, only that which is authorized and commanded by
the Creator. It is a plea for people, people who are not
welded to the things of the world, who realize that we tend
toward a spiritual destiny, who understand that we live in a
probationary period, one where we equip ourselves for that
divine destiny. Now doesn’t that sound important? Then how
can we neglect it? How can we ignore it? How can we relegate
it to second place? (Read I Peter 4:11)
We need to look to our attitudes. Attitudes are such
an important consideration. Our attitude is our spiritual
posture. As such, it’s descriptive of what we are apt to do
in a given situation. When things are good, we would do well
to be thankful and, at the same time, careful. When things are
bad, we would do well to adjust our attitude to fit the
occasion, to understand patience and the need to remain
faithful, no matter the situation. Our attitudes as husbands
and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, are the
dispositions that form our conduct in these various roles.
That means they should be formed carefully and used
efficiently. We might do well to remember, too, that attitudes
are formed by what we hear, see and read, what impresses us in
various ways, and develop a real caution as to what we allow
residency in our minds. (Read Matthew 5:3-12)
We need to watch where we’re going. Everyone is
going somewhere, and no matter who that someone is, he makes
his own choice as to his destination. We would do well to
remember that in the final matter of things, there are only
two ways to go–the broad way or the narrow way. And while we
give intellectual assent to the fact of how foolish it is to
choose the broad way, if we’re not careful we can do so by
default. That is, we get a little off course and make little
excursions away from the narrow way and first thing we know
we’ve taken a wrong turn and are going the wrong direction.
Many a person has gotten off course just because he decided to
make to make a little side trip. (Read Matthew 7:13-14)
We need to look ahead at our various emphases.
Everybody is majoring in something–not just in school, but
in life. It may be a trite expression, but if we’re not
careful we can major in minors and minor in majors. That is,
we can easily give a first rate dedication to a second rate
cause. Is it asking too much that we sit down in some quiet
place and determine what will have priority in our lives? And
once we’ve made the list, is it asking too much that we give
primary attention to it, not merely intellectual approval?
When everything is said and done and we have finished with the
school room of life, our eternal destiny will be measured by
whether or not we completed our major. What will your major
be? (Read Matthew 22:37-40)
We need to look homeward. No Christian is mature we
does not seem himself as a stranger in a foreign land, a so-journer
in another country. “This world is not my home, I’m just
‘a passing through,” says Albert E. Brumley’s song. When
we feel such a strong attachment to this world, it becomes
increasingly difficult to look at where we’re supposed to be
going. The view becomes dim and cloudy. And that’s a shame,
because where we’re going is a far grander place than the
place where we are. We need to look to Jesus who authored our
faith, as to Him who will finally finish our faith. Anything
less than a homeward view is foolish. To put our faith in this
world and its offerings is to commit spiritual suicide. Look
up. It’s were it’s at. (Read I Peter 2:9-11)
Just a few things that should grab our attention in the coming
year. We need to look back; we need to look forward to the new
year. But we would be foolish not to look inward, as well.
Dee Bowman
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Copyright (C)
2008
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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