Gen 1:1 .A New Year’s Message.
It’s a new year and for those who are cynical about making resolutions here are some easy-to-keep resolutions for 2013.
- In the year 2013, I will gain some weight.
- Starting today, I decide not to exercise.
- I am committing to cook less and eat out more
- I resolve to break at least one traffic law before the year is up.
- I have finally decided to go on a diet… a chocolate-only diet.
Another year has come to an end.
It is a scary thought, because for some of us, we have seen the end of many such years.
So why should this year be different?
Romans 13:11. This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for
our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Ephesians 5:16. making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
“Days are evil” …things are not getting better.
The good old days, really are the good ol’ days, unfortunately. I don’t intent to be a doomsday Prophet, however, I wish to remind that now is not the time to sit back and act like everything will work out.
Psalmist tells us to number our days so that we will develop a heart of wisdom.
In redeeming the time, in making the most of every opportunity that creates an eternal difference, we develop a heart of wisdom.
If we have needed anything last year, it certainly was a ‘heart of wisdom’. Wisdom to discern our politics, culture, society and more importantly the depravity of our self.
Imagine with me…
Imagine you had this ‘baking inspiration’.
You’ve got your pots and pans, your baking kit, and all of the necessary ingredients.
You did this on January 1, 2012, for that’s when started your baking.
And today, the last day of the year you are checking to see how it turned out.
There is one of two things that are possible.
First, all that you probably see is a mess. You realize that the year turned out just like the cake.
A hope that didn’t rise to its expectation, just like the cake.
You would have preferred the year to be a little sweeter, just like the cake.
It could be that the cake turned out to be dry, just like the comments you have had to endure during the year.
It may also be that the cake’s consistency was a little crumbly and falling apart, just like the year you’ve just had.
You truly wish your inspiration had turned out to be the best “red velvet cupcake” ever (my favourite and I assume yours too).
Alternatively, it may have been all that you planned for and better.
However, you got so greedy that you just ate it all by yourself. You consumed both the cake and the year all by yourself. And you are feeling pretty stuffed like after a post-turkey dinner?
It is true of such dinners that the stuffing trades places pre and post dinner – from turkey to yours truly.
What does the Bible say about inspirational baking that is selfishly motivated?
Eccle 12:1. Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth
before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”
Even those of us who assume we are not youth anymore, we will always be younger today than tomorrow.
There seems to be more to baking than inspiration, and more to life than selfish living.
It turns out that neither of the two outcomes fit the mould for living.
We know we want to do better next year. There is a discontentment with the ways things have gone and hopefully it is a divinely inspired discontentment?
Discontentment not because of a lack of personal benefit but for the things of God left undone.
How can I make 2013 any different?
In times like these it may be good to go back to the first verse in the Bible.
Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God…”
This is real good personal mission statement.
And I am deciding to make this verse my resolution for the year… “In the beginning God…”
Simply put, in all that I begin, behave or belong I want God to be preeminent.
I want to resolve that God would be the beginning of all that I would do in 2013.
I want that in all my, assumptions, attitudes, actions and ambitions I will begin with God.
“In the beginning God…” reminds me that God will be first in all that I do this year.
And if this resonates with you, I suggest you must make it your resolution too.
What about the ‘Red Velvet Cupcake’ that didn’t turn out well?
It is the beginning of the New Year, and so you are allowed a new beginning.
Therefore, here are three quick steps to start all over again.
1. Let’s clean our vessels.
Clean up your pots and pans before you start again.
2 Tim 2:21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, [and] prepared unto every good work.
Get right with God. Clean up your act.
Use water to clean. Use the Word of God.
Ephesians 5:26. …Washed by the cleansing of God’s word.
We also know that it is only through God’s grace we can be clean. We can’t be clean of ourselves.
Ephesians 2:8. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
2. Check the recipe book
Step two is to check the recipe book.
Inspirations are good, but playing around with life based on presumptions and assumptions can be dangerous.
We have a HEPA (Highly Evolved Presumption and Assumption) filter that distorts all that we do on our own strength.
Life must follow the principles for it to turn out well. And for that we need the recipe book for life — the Bible.
Joshua 1:8. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
3. Follow the recipe
The third most important step is, “follow the recipe”.
It is one thing to own the recipe book and even to read it, but another that we follow it.
This year we need to move from intent to implement. Not merely good intentions of what we wish to do with life this year, but get down to implementing them by following the recipe.
Ps 19:11. By them (the Word of God) is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Conclusion
If you want 2013 to be different you must stop following your own recipe for sure disaster but turn to the Master for His recipe.
You can trust the One who turned water into vintage wine, and served the disciples breakfast by the sea.
You can be sure if God is preeminent in your life – if you truly practice “In the beginning God…” in your life that the ‘red velvet cupcake’ or whatever it is that you have entrusted to Him will turn out well.
So remember for 2013 let it be “In the beginning God…”.
Start with God in everything. His glory, His Honor, and His Pre-eminence and you will find that 2013 will be a different menu altogether.
My Son 