Colossians 3:23-24
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[ Intro ]
Happy new years to everyone. Have you listed out or thought of any goals for this year? This is a funny time of year. So many people set out with such determination to hit certain goals. I feel like most goals tend to revolve around health, finances, relationships, and time-management (being more productive). It’s ironic because in December people tend to spend the most money, eat the most unhealthy, the least active and sometimes the least motivated to be productive. And that’s typically my behavior in the month of December. I love it. The end of the year, I just want to use all of my PTO from work, eat cookies and spend time with friends and family. It’s not a bad way to end the year. But it’s just funny how once January 1st hits, people are off to the races trying to conquer the world. Heather and I were at the gym the other day because we wanted to go for a swim, thankfully this gym has a nice indoor swimming pool. Last time we went, in December, we had no issue getting space in the pool to do laps. This time, the pool was full and there was multiple people waiting on a bench to get in and do their laps. We were so baffled as to how it could be so full in the middle of the day, but then Heather remembered, it’s January.
For today I want to take time to focus not on our goals, but what motivates us to set and achieve goals. It doesn’t have to be a new years resolution, the message today applies to any future goal you ever make. Anything you strive to accomplish or learn. Underneath every goal and desire, there’s a reason for why we set that goal and have a desire for a specific result.
It’s important to understand what we are truly wanting in the end from the results. The question and topic is who are we trying to glorify. For example: When it comes to some of the common themes, health, finances, productive with our time, these can all be good things when pursued in the right manner. The Bible says not to be a glutton. Our bodies are not our own, they are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Health is important. The Bible talks about being a good steward of money. Managing your finances is important. God blesses us with all kinds of abilities and spiritual gifts, so yes being productive, using our God-given gifts and not wasting large amounts of time is important.
And these are just a few examples. But I could follow all of this Biblical wisdom and look great on the outside to Christians and Non-Christians, but yet still fail at the main point of it all. To bring God glory. This is something I’ve failed at countless times.
We’re going to read from Colossians 3. In this chapter Paul writes about putting off the old self and putting on the new as believers. Which in some ways is what a lot of people are trying to do with new years resolutions. Put off all of the bad habits and put on new good habits. And like I said, a lot of times they are good and pure habits that people want to put on, but we have to get the purpose right otherwise we can unintentionally be going down this path towards pride.
We’re going to read verse 1 and then verse 17 today.
[ Body ]
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
We’ve been raised to new life with Christ and we ought to live as a representative of him. Striving to take on the mind of Christ. Doing His will for His glory.
11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
As we strive to do more this year, remember where your gifts come from and who provides you the strength to act on these gifts. Continually submit to Him.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
For me, so many times when thinking about what I want to accomplish in a new year, I would think where and who do I want to be at the end of the year. I’d often try and depend on my own understanding. Trying to decide my own path. Right here in proverbs we know our path starts be seeking God. And that goes for everything we do.
So as you make plans for this year, think and pray hard about what path God wants you to take and how we can work to bring glory to Him on whatever path it is. How can we put off more of our fleshly desires and take on more of the mind of Christ. There is no other way but to submit to Him. Drawing closer to God is the number 1 priority, and all the other things will take its course as God plans it.
And when it comes to pursuing anything in life, one struggle that I definitely deal with, and maybe some others are able to relate with, is overcoming procrastination. I’ve struggled with it countless times. And sometimes that even goes for spending time with God. Pushing off my prayer time, Bible studying time, anything that would be pleasing to God. And whenever someone procrastinates, there’s an assumption going through their mind. There’s always tomorrow. But there’s not. How differently would we think about time. How differently would we prioritize our relationship with God, pursuing Him, living our life for Him, wanting to please Him, if we knew when our time was up.
12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom.
15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
As believers in Christ, we’ve received salvation, but that does not mean that God doesn’t care about how we live. He’s blessed each and everyone of us with different gifts to serve Him. There’s a parable Jesus shared about the master who goes away on a trip and gives three different servants money to use and try to grow while he’s gone. This parable is interpreted a few different ways, but one of the interpretations is that the money given to the servants represents the gifts and talents God has given each and everyone of us.
How can we use our God-given talents to bring Him Glory? We don’t want to be the lazy servant, but I’ve been there. Wasting the days away. Doing nothing with what has been given to me. Taking the days I’ve been given for granted. Thinking, there’s always tomorrow. I can always start to take action later. I have so many more years to live. We don’t know when our time is up, but we don’t have to worry about it either. We can look at each day as a gift from God to serve Him with the abilities we were given by Him.