Yesterday I watched as the Dallas Cowboys football team lost their bid for the playoffs to a Washington Redskins team led by a rookie quarterback and a rookie running back. For those of you not into football, experience is a major factor in achieving your goals in the National Football League (NFL) and for these two rookies, it is amazing to see what they have accomplished. I believe they are where they are because of 1) considerable natural talent, 2) hard work and 3) remaining focused on the task at hand. Oh but if we could approach our pursuit of good things for our new year in the same way.
When I think of stories like the one above, I think truer, better and more important stories from Scripture which have been teaching us these virtues for a long time. One such story is that of Paul. Paul was possessed of 1) considerable natural talent (he was trained by the best), 2) great work ethic (it took time, dedication, energy, sacrifice and sweat to learn and become what he called a 'Pharisee of Pharisees') and 3) stubborn persistence (Paul pressed on toward the goal [for a while the wrong goal] well before he was called by God to be the greatest evangelist ever). Paul applied these virtues toward the persecution of this new group called "the way" (i.e., the early Christian Church). He followed them. He watched them and participated in their persecution (see Acts 7:58). But God has a way of calling us to higher purpose and better use of those traits that can be used for good or for bad. God used the natural talent of Paul ... his knowledge of Scripture ... his ability to pursue logical argument ... his understanding of the Law and its dangers. God used Paul's work ethic as the Holt Spirit inspired words like, "But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me." [Philippians 3:12]. God used Paul's dogged focus to give him strength to persist in places like prison, shipwrecked on an island, in court and pressed on every side (2 Corinthians 4:8) by troubles.
2013 will be a year when we can choose to stay the course, go backward or go forward. Staying the course will be easy ... just do nothing and next New Year's day we can wonder why our world has the same issues and problems. Going backward is simple ... just revert to behaviors and practices that have brought us down every year up till now. Or ... just maybe ... we can go forward. We can embrace and apply our natural talent God gives us all to do His work (these are called Spiritual Gifts [1 Corinthians 12]). We can do the hard work of (every day) making hard choices, putting one foot in front of the other and reminding ourselves that following God isn't a microwave (instant) process, it is a crock pot (slow, persistent, methodical) process. And, we can realize that we are called to "run with endurance the race the God has set before us [Hebrews 12:1]." You don't have to be an experienced Christian to see results from this process. You only need to be open, usable and willing. In fact, you can be a rookie. All God needs is your yes! Pastor Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment