I've entered into 2018 with a heavy heart. Not only for the burdens I've seen around me, the suffering, the hurt, the pain, but also for the unknown. 2018 just seems to have a giant BLANK below it. What will this year hold? I HAVE NO IDEA and that terrifies me. The unknown has always been daunting to me. It's a place of fear, worry and anxiety. A place where there is no peace. A place that often cripples me at just the thought of it. And as I thought about the new year approaching and what it would look like, what it would hold, I panicked. I didn't know. I didn't know what trials we would face, what paths we would have to walk, what mountains we would have to climb. Would this year be really hard? Would it be stretching, or would it be easy? I didn't have any answers then and I still don't now. I'm a planner, like big time. Give me all the calendars, planners and schedules. I like to be able to look at the next day, or month, and see exactly what kind of things we have on our plates and the beginning of a New Year is just a big empty canvas with no plan. Enter Rebekah's panic stricken face.
But, as I thought about these things and prayed for peace I was reminded of a quote I heard this past year by Elizabeth Elliot: "Do the next thing." Simple, right? But I don't think I've ever really given it that much thought. Don't look at the daunting year ahead with all its uncertainties and unknowns, just do the next thing. Start at the beginning, and then do what's next. For me, that's as simple as doing the laundry, or brushing my teeth, or feeding my kids lunch.
I want this year to be about living. Not just living for the sake of living, but living with the right perspective. Because heaven knows my perspective is often so wrong. Living with a perspective that's focused on the bigger picture: eternity. This world and all it has to offer sucks me in way more than I'd like to admit. It's comfortable, it's enticing, and often it's what I'm focused on. I think that's what my fear of the unknown really comes down to: my worldly perspective. When eternity is what is in the forefront of my mind, everything else changes. I don't need to be worried about tomorrow, this month or even next year- because I know who is in control of it. Today is a gift, a wonderful, precious gift, and right now is all that's guaranteed to me. Is that sentence not terrifying to you? I find it terrifying, but I shouldn't. This life isn't guaranteed to me, this year isn't, but eternity is because of salvation in Christ Jesus...and that should be comforting. I need to set my mind on things above, not on earthly things.
So here's my new year resolution: to live. Live with an eternal perspective, with my heart and mind fixed on things above. To live each day first, instead of worrying about the things of tomorrow. To live each day as it is, a gift. To love the world less and my saviour more. I don't know what will all be in store for us this upcoming year, but I know who has gone before me, who's grace is sufficient for every moment, and that He works all things together for the good of those who love him. "You see how your neediness points you to Christ's sufficiency" -Gloria Furman. In Him and the power of the gospel I can enter 2018 with a peace that surpasses all understanding. I can have confidence in what eternity holds for me, even if I don't have confidence in what this year holds.
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." Philippians 3:20 and 21
"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us- eternal life." 1 John 1:24 and 25
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions- is not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17
"You and I stand on the porch of eternity. Both of us will soon stand before God to give an account for our stewardship of the time, resources, the gifts, and ultimately the gospel he has entrusted to us. When that day comes, I am convinced we will not wish we had given more of ourselves to live the American dream." -David Platt
