Happy New Year! Here we are again, starting a new year. Time to make our “New Year’s resolutions” again. You know: how we are planning to eat right, exercise more, and lose that extra weight; how we are going to be punctual from now on and do our jobs with 100% effort; how we are determined to work harder to make our businesses more successful; how we are going to treat people better (especially our spouses!); going to spend more time with the kids, less time with the remote; etc…. Well, these are virtuous goals and God is all for them, however, He has given us the blueprint for life and when we follow it “all these things” will take care of themselves. In the bible in the book of Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “seek first His (God’s) kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you”. Our focus need not be on the things, but on God (who by the way, owns all the things!). Jesus said this during his sermon on the mount in which he basically turned the world’s way of doing things upside down. He also said to “bless those who curse you” and to “love your enemies” among other things. Behavior, that doesn’t make a lot of sense from society’s perspective. I mean really, how many “bless those that curse you” seminars have you been to lately! The most important resolution you can make is to seek God’s kingdom first this year. Most of us are trying to change from the outside in; instead of from the inside out! Proverbs 23:7 says “for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he!”. We need to change our thinking this year. We need to start thinking about God’s kingdom and His way of doing things. If we spend more time with Him, we will spend less time eating. If we seek more of Him in our work life we will see the benefits. If we seek more of Him, our relationships with others will improve. It is appropriate that our New Year immediately follows Christmas. A new year represents new beginnings and the birth of Christ in your life will bring them! Whoever is in Christ is a NEW creation, the old has gone the new has come (2 cor 5:17).
Jesus said not to worry about things, but to seek God first. In Matthew 6:25 he said not to “worry” about what you will eat or what you will drink or wear. He also said in vs 32 that your “heavenly father knows that you need them”. If 2008 is to be your best year yet (not your best ever) then make one resolution and keep it. I spent 16 years on Wall Street trying to make enough money so I could take care of all those “things” that I thought would “complete me” (yes, I’ve seen “Jerry Maguire” a few times). Well after all those years of trading money back and forth I found that I would never be able to chase all those “things” down. Having a wife and 6 kids also had something to do with it. I have four girls and let me tell you something, I think they are all born with a “shopping gene”. On July 23,2000 I told God I was tired of chasing the things and I was ready to seek him with all my heart. He answered by saying I would have to preach the Gospel weekly by starting a church in North Brunswick. I had just lost my job and was in debt over $250,000.00 and my family was more interested in me starting a job then starting a church. Of course I listened to God and started the church a month later. And within 6 months (after much prayer!) I found a job on wall street again. This time though there was no quick fix for me financially (or so I thought). I sought God with all my heart and performed my job to the best of my ability. As time went on I focused less and less on the “things” and more and more on Him. Now my wife and I pastor a thriving church and all the things that I used to chase are chasing after me. I have retired from wall street and I am debt free, God is still in the miracle business! Please don’t get me wrong, life isn’t always easy, but it is much better with God! He knows exactly what you need and as you seek him first he will add whatever that is unto you.
So, lets make this our 2008 New Year’s resolution, that we will seek God first in our lives: we will pray more (”pray without ceasing”), we will read our bibles regularly (”give us this day our daily bread (whole wheat with flax seed, of course!”) and we will attend our church regularly (”do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing”).
May 2008 be your most healthy, blessed and prosperous New Year yet, as you seek God first.
God Bless