The first sentence of the Bible reads, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". Can you think of a better way to begin your new year of 2013 than to look back into the pages of ancient Scripture at the One who began all things? We are not told much about the beginning, but we are told what is important to know about it...namely that God was there. People say, "Well, who made God?" The funny thing is that even such a statement implies that there was a creator before the created. The creator who brought into existence the created was none other than God Himself. "In the beginning, God". Not, "in the beginning, dust" or "in the beginning, matter", but "In the beginning, God". How liberating it is to know that all that we see came from the hands of One omnipotent and omnibenevolent creator. I recently went with my wife to Myrtle Beach, SC where we walked along the seaside and looked out at the vast ocean before us. No matter how big our problems may seem at times or how big the load of responsibility may be upon us, one glance at the practically limitless ocean reminds us that there is One who holds the world in His hands and our mountains are only molehills in His sight. The prophet Isaiah writes, "Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as
dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust." (Is. 40:15).
God created the heavens and the earth. The difference between the things we create as humans and the things God creates is that He creates out of nothing ("ex nihilo") while we create out of things. No human being can bring into existence that which previously did not exist. Perhaps this New Year you have a list of resolutions you seek to keep that will somehow improve your lifestyle. The thing about resolutions is that we humans make them. We can't even be sure we won't die in an accident on the way to the store this afternoon. We are frail and weak before God. Moses writes in his Psalm 90, "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away...So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
The secret to keeping your resolutions is this: we must never forget that without dependence on God, nothing of any lasting value is possible. I say nothing of any lasting value because valuable things can be done by people. Orphanages have been built and wells have been dug and hospitals have been constructed that are valuable. But if they only help people "between the dashes" they have no lasting value. Headstones are humbling because they measure all that people ever do between a dash of their date of birth and a dash of their date of death. This year seek to live life beyond the dashes. Seek to build homes that will never crumble and as Jesus said, "provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted where no thief comes near and no moth destroys" (Lk. 12:33b). Jesus also reminded us, "apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b). Don't give into mindset of the age that says, "I'll pull myself up by my own bootstraps". The more you depend on Jesus this year, the more you will do for Jesus this year. If God so created the world we know out of nothing with all its many beauties and wonders, look to Him and His Word this year to guide you in doing that which will endure on into eternity, far beyond all the glitter of the world's good works.
God created the heavens and the earth. The difference between the things we create as humans and the things God creates is that He creates out of nothing ("ex nihilo") while we create out of things. No human being can bring into existence that which previously did not exist. Perhaps this New Year you have a list of resolutions you seek to keep that will somehow improve your lifestyle. The thing about resolutions is that we humans make them. We can't even be sure we won't die in an accident on the way to the store this afternoon. We are frail and weak before God. Moses writes in his Psalm 90, "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away...So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
The secret to keeping your resolutions is this: we must never forget that without dependence on God, nothing of any lasting value is possible. I say nothing of any lasting value because valuable things can be done by people. Orphanages have been built and wells have been dug and hospitals have been constructed that are valuable. But if they only help people "between the dashes" they have no lasting value. Headstones are humbling because they measure all that people ever do between a dash of their date of birth and a dash of their date of death. This year seek to live life beyond the dashes. Seek to build homes that will never crumble and as Jesus said, "provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted where no thief comes near and no moth destroys" (Lk. 12:33b). Jesus also reminded us, "apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b). Don't give into mindset of the age that says, "I'll pull myself up by my own bootstraps". The more you depend on Jesus this year, the more you will do for Jesus this year. If God so created the world we know out of nothing with all its many beauties and wonders, look to Him and His Word this year to guide you in doing that which will endure on into eternity, far beyond all the glitter of the world's good works.
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