Happy New Year Mindset

I should leave the radio off in the car.  I used to do this, and somehow got out of the habit.  This morning I drove in silence and it didn’t take long for the Lord to speak to me.  Reflecting on the new year, I realize that I need a new mindset going into 2014…

6 he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord

10 I want to know Christ

12 I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:7-8, 10, 12-14

I was dwelling and driving.  Driving and dwelling.  Not on the Lord, though.  I was dwelling on the thing that consumes me this week/month.  Think about that for a moment.

What is your dwelling point right now?

Your job?
Getting a new job?
College/university?
Your relationship with that person?
That person?
Finances?
Anxiety?
Your goals and mission?
Achieving that success you have been aiming for?
Your weight?

Whatever it is, how about I suggest that it’s the wrong thing?  Seriously.  We can think about those things, yet we ought not to be consumed by them.  They are the side issues of life.  For many of us, they ARE life.  And that’s a dangerous place to be.

And so as we plan for our new year’s resolutions, perhaps we can be informed by Philippians, one of Paul’s letters to the early church.  Let me get to my point:

God has begun a work in you.  Maybe it’s a work that started years ago and it’s a distant memory for you now.  Maybe it’s a work that you are thankful for and you wish it would increase today.  Maybe you aren’t even aware of it, yet you are reading these words, and it could be that the Spirit of God brought you here today.  God is working.

I propose that knowing God through Jesus Christ is the point.  That’s it.  God’s new year’s resolution for you and me is to know him.  Know him more.

Paul writes that it’s better than anything to know Jesus.  And Paul writes that he is striving to take hold of the thing for which God took hold of him.  That’s a tongue twister.  And it means that God reached out to you through Jesus to have a relationship with you.  You can reach out to take hold of that relationship and meet God in the middle through Jesus.

It doesn’t mean that you are doing anything to be proud of or achieve God’s acceptance.  God did it all for you – it’s a gift – you just accept the gift.

I want to spend more time dwelling on my relationship with Jesus.  Forgetting what is behind, and in relationship with Christ, looking forward to what is ahead.

Happy New Year Mindset!

Marc Kinna

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