Tradition
dictates that seeing out the old year and ringing in the new is a time of
celebration. A new year signifies new beginnings, fresh hope, new
opportunities, and for many… new resolution to accomplish personal goals.
However, I am acutely aware that not
everybody feels this way. For some the old year may represent hardship or
heartache – and the new year may be viewed with trepidation or blighted hope.
For others the idea of working up the energy to tackle life with renewed vigor,
may feel overwhelming as they find themselves spent at the close of the old
year. There may be yet others for whom the new year seems to bring nothing but
new problems to resolve and obstacles to overcome.
On December 31st 2012, I woke
up feeling particularly heavy-hearted. The last four months of the year had
brought a personal sadness that seemed to have become woven into the very
fabric of my heart, threading through all my waking and sleeping hours. As I
looked back over the way I had invested my time and energies in 2012, and the
places where I had poured myself out, I wondered what the past year had all
been for – and how I was to approach the year to come.
For
those of us who have committed our way to the Lord and set our hearts to follow
Him, it is only God’s assessment of how we spend our lives that counts. Our
responsibility is to follow in obedience to Him – and trust Him with the
results.
I
could not help but think that I sought something far more meaningful with which
to approach 2013 than the superficial idea of attaining personal goals through
the making of resolutions. I want to live my year - live my life - not to
accomplish selfish ambition or personal dreams, but instead in such a way as to
leave a legacy.
The truth is, wittingly or unwittingly,
and whether we have children and grandchildren or not, each of us does indeed
leave a legacy from our lives, to those others – family, friends,
acquaintances, colleagues – whose lives intersect ours. The question is: What
kind of legacy are we leaving?
Every decision we make, action we take,
and word we speak, has a ripple effect in the lives of those around us, leaving
deposits there. All these together comprise the total legacy we leave behind us
as we go about our everyday living. The nature of the legacy we leave is a
matter of our own choice:
·
A
negative legacy of lack of faith, complaining, bitterness, unforgiveness, harsh
and hasty words spoken, a critical spirit, selfish and self-absorbed decisions and actions, unkindness and rejection, dismissive disregard for anyone
but ourselves, ungraciousness…
·
Or…
a legacy of faith in face of trouble; worship in the face of hardship; trust in
the God whose character is without defect; abandonment to His love, grace,
mercy and forgiveness, allowing these to spill from our lives; encouragement
and affirmation of the goodness of God we see in others; caring and compassion;
gratitude for life’s everyday blessings that we so take for granted…
Whichever we choose, every life that
touches ours will be impacted by that choice. On this first day of January
2013, the Lord challenged me personally, to live a life of worship, no matter
what the circumstances or my feelings. When we choose to live a life of worship
of the majestic and glorious Lord who is always worthy of all worship, not only
our hearts, thoughts and feelings, but also our circumstances begin to be
transformed as they align with the Majestic One.
On New Year’s Day, the Holy Spirit
directed me to Psalm 37 as a guideline for how to live out my life in 2013 –
and for all my years to come. This Psalm gives us four positive directives,
and one negative. Each instruction is attached to a promise:
·
Instruction: Trust in the Lord – lean on Him, depend on Him, have confidence in
Him – and do good to others…
Promise: God’s peace
and protection in the place He has established us. Protection, peace.
·
Instruction: Take delight in the Lord – as our first delight above all others and all
else…
Promise: He will give
us desires that align with His will and purpose; He will fulfill the secret
petitions of our hearts. Provision, abundance,
purpose, answered prayer, hearts nurtured by His love.
·
Instruction: Commit your way trustingly to the Lord…
Promise: He will make
your “righteousness shine like the dawn” and “the justice of your cause like
the noonday sun”; He will make your steps firm. God’s righteousness and justice; vindication of your reputation in the
face of opposition and attack; a sure
and certain way forward.
·
Instruction: Be still and wait patiently for the Lord in an
attitude of trust…
Promise: The Lord will
uphold, sustain and bless you, continuing to work out His purposes in and
through your circumstances. Strength, favor,
Divine purpose.
·
Instruction: Do not harbor anger; do not get agitated…
Promise: Assurance that
the Lord is constantly at work in every situation – nothing is ever outside of
His sovereignty; He is never not in
control. The powerful outworking of God’s
almighty, eternal purposes for good.
Trust… delight… commit… be still and wait…
don’t agitate…
If we live 2013 this way - if we live our
lives this way - this Psalm promises us that… we will leave behind us an eternal
legacy! Verse 18 says, The days of the
blameless are known to the Lord, and their
inheritance will endure forever!
So let us live to leave a legacy in 2013! Let us trust the Lord
and intentionally do good to others, no matter how they treat us; let us make the Lord the
first and most passionate delight of our hearts – in all circumstances choosing
to worship Him and desiring to know Him more intimately; let us commit our
every step along the way to Him; let us trustingly wait for Him to work out His
sovereign purposes; let us not get agitated, trying to stage-manage people and
circumstances in our own strength and according to our own reasoning.
In turn, God promises to faithfully take
care of every aspect of our lives according to His supreme purposes.
What will 2013 bring our way? Only God
knows – and we can trust His supreme knowledge and almighty purposes. A quote
by Oswald Chambers struck a chord when I read it on January 2: “God does not
tell you what He is going to do – He reveals to you WHO HE IS. Believe God is
always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how
unnecessary and disrespectful worry is!”
Selah.
No comments:
Post a Comment