One Resolution for Catalyzing Spiritual Growth

Thinking about resolutions for the new year?

Oddly, most of my resolutions come while I'm on vacation. Maybe it's not odd and I'm not alone, it's just I've never heard of anyone else who makes multiple resolutions while on vacation. 

But I do have resolutions around this time of year (especially if I'm on vacation at the end of the year). 

Do you have a resolution for this year? If so, don't waste it.

The best ones are catalytic--they have a domino or ripple effect?

For example, if I would review my master to-do list for 5-10 minutes every day, I would then trust my to-do list and put all my to-dos on that list. And if I did that I would stop scattering reminders everywhere (e.g., I can't move that book off my desk because it will remind me I want to use it for a sermon three months from now). 

A simple discipline of checking my to-do list daily would make my life less cluttered, my mind more nimble, and my wife very happy. 

I don't know what would be the most spiritually catalytic resolution for you. Catalysts are different for different parts of our journey. But I do know what is the one catalytic practice that is profoundly impactful no matter where you are on your spiritual journey. 

Here are the late R.C. Sproul's reflections on this one catalytic practice:

"The Word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart, but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind."

Undeniably true. 

“We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.”

So convicting.

If this is your one resolution, consider attending the Story of God experience, starting Sunday, January 21 (register here). It'll deepen your understanding. It will help get in your head what your heart needs in order to love.

Or maybe resolve to start each day with DailyLife (subscribe here). 

Photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash

Don’t Miss Who This Baby Is. Don’t Miss What He Came to Do.

When I read the Steve Jobs biography a few years ago, one of the stories from his life that I found most interesting was a story about his father. 

Jobs had been adopted, and he had not known anything about his biological parents until well into his adulthood. But he and his biological mother did eventually meet, and she told him about a sister he had.

After he and his sister met, she told him she was looking for their father. Jobs was interested, but he told her that if she found their father, she was not to tell him about himself. He would decide whether or not to reveal who he was to his father.

After some time, his sister did find their father. After some investigating, Jobs decided not to contact his father, and he never did before he died. And his father never learned that his son was Steve Jobs before he died.

But here’s the most interesting part of the story. 

When Jobs’ sister found their father, he was running a coffee shop. But their father explained that he had once been a big restauranteur before falling on some hard times business-wise. He said he had served a lot of famous people, including Steve Jobs. Jobs had eaten their several times and he had been a great tipper.

Steve Jobs and his dad had met several times never knowing who the other person was.

Think of all the people who met the baby Jesus and had no idea who they were meeting.

Think of all the people who celebrate Christmas, not knowing who that baby they celebrate is. 

And think of all the people who know who the baby is yet rush through this season with little thought given to what they are celebrating. 

Matthew records the angle’s message to Joseph, “‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us)” (Matthew 1:23).

He is God with us. 

In another scene from the gospels, an angel tells shepherds, “‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger’” (Luke 2:10-11)

He is God with us. He is the Savior. 

In Christ, God came for us. 

All those people who passed by the baby, held the baby, heard the baby (maybe to the point of annoyance)…and never learned that the baby was God with us, the Savior. 

In our Christmas services we’ll be looking at what it means that God came for us. 

Three aspects of what it means, each emphasized by the word or words accented when you say, “God came for us.”

GOD came for us. Immanuel.

God CAME for us. Rescue.

God came FOR US. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

Don’t miss it. Don’t miss what he came to do. Knowing or remembering and celebrating why he came changes everything in this season. 

Do you know someone you can invite? 

Here’s what I said to someone I invited today: “If you’re looking for something Christmasy to do, our Christmas services at Five Oaks are on Saturday…. It’s casual in dress and style. About one hour long. Lots of Christmas music. Like a nice cup of hot chocolate!”

I hope she and her family come. I’m praying for it. 

Who are you going to invite right now? 

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash