Musings on New Year’s Eve

It’s the last day of 2014.

It seems as though each year passes by quicker than the year before. Perhaps it is to remind us that life is temporary, and that with each passing day and hour, we draw closer to the end. And yet we know that this life is not all there is. Even these temporary times serve a non-temporal purpose, as we use them to prepare for the eternal.

I had all planned out what I was going to write about today. If you had asked me yesterday, I could have told you pretty well exactly what I was going to write about. But now, I’m not so sure. Something happened last night, and it made me wonder if God wanted me to write about a different topic.

See, I was sprawled on my bed with my journal, and was getting ready to write about everything that had happened yesterday. Which wasn’t much. So I began, “It was a somewhat lazy day today.”

And unexpectedly, those simple words unleashed a torrent of words – as though from God’s lips through my pen. Why was it a lazy day? What had I accomplished?

“While I may have done some things for my own good – what about for others? What about for God? What purpose does a temporary day serve if it is filled only with temporary good, without any great investment in the eternal?”
Let me ask you the question that I asked of myself.

Has your spiritual journey come to a halt? Have you pulled off the road and found yourself a comfortable room in the Inn of Wrongful Contentment? Are you content so long as you are not journeying backwards, forgetting that the Christian walk is meant to be lived forwards?

Because I feel like that is where I am now. God is asking me to deny myself and to show true love to my family. He doesn’t want me to just go through my days living for myself and avoiding trouble. He wants me to take the step forward, to take action, to seek good.

We are not meant to be soldiers sitting in a camp, idly passing time and waiting for the enemy to attack us so that we can defend ourselves. We are not meant to be defenders only! We need to get onto the offensive! We need to dust off our armor, gird ourselves with it, take hold of our sword, and get out there and act!

That’s what I want to do this New Year. I want to live for God and for others – putting them above myself. I don’t want to just avoid wrong – I want to seek right!

What will you do this New Year?

 

 A Call to Arms

Your life is in danger – will you not fight?
Advance! You bring the battle to its height!
To surrender is as shameful as flight,
So attack! Blind the foe with your bright light!
Let not your sword be at your side hanging:
Unsheath it! – and hear the steady clashing!
May your shield be up as you keep praying:
Don’t rest until you see your foe fleeing!
And even when you have a short respite,
Keep hold on your weapon – keep your grip tight –
Keep your focus on God who gives you might.
Oh, I pity those who’re always losing,
Who do rarely feel the thrill of winning:
If only they’d rise up and be fighting,
Their life would have new purpose and meaning!
If you’re saved, you have a helmet right there;
Now take up truth and faith as you prepare;
A breastplate of righteousness you must wear;
If you know the Word, Satan you will scare –
So let him come against you if he’ll dare!
Obey the call to arms and say a prayer,
And then your foe will have a skirmish rare,
And he’ll learn to of your weapons beware!

~ Written at age 16