Dear friends in Christ at Peace and Grue,
Do you make New Year's resolutions? Stop smoking, lose weight; exercise more, more sleep, whatever excess or overindulgence it is that nags at you. St. Paul in his letter to Titus (2:11-14) lays out a resolution that you can embrace as a Christian. An opportunity for training in the faith, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this age, while waiting for the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
How do you resolve to live your life in light of being a Christian? Will you live it always chasing what the world says is of value? Will you live it in outrage and irritation? Will you live your life for you and you alone? The Christian life is really set against all of this. Essentially as a Christian you belong first to Jesus and then to your neighbor, and finally to yourself. This runs against the grain, the world says put yourself first, then your family, and then if there is anything left over, and you have an inclination toward it, that left over can go to God.
Paul’s resolution is to be a rebel; a non-conformist. When the world has gone crazy do not be conformed to this world. Don’t give into every new and crazy thought or idea. Don’t give into worldly passions. Instead test everything against what Scripture says and be perfect.
Perfect! Let’s not get carried away. I know how these resolutions work. When I make one I often break it, or even if I do well at it I can’t keep it up forever. And worldly passions, it’s not like I don’t know what I should be doing, I want to do better but the thought of having to be perfect makes me exhausted.
Where I fail at this, where we all fail at this, Jesus succeeds, that is the key. His resolution was to come into our lives and save us from ourselves, because he knows we cannot resolve to come to him, and Jesus did it.
As you look forward to 2021, what sort of Christian life will you lead? As Christians we seek to do the right thing, the god-pleasing thing, but we do not always know what it is. People of good will can differ on means to a good end. We are human beings, we do not know all the unintended consequences of our action or our inaction but we still need to live with what we decide. What we must not do is give up. We have the courage to face this New Year because Jesus is God with us and for us.
We have an annual meeting coming up in January. Because of Covid-19, we don’t anticipate we can have this meeting in person. Nevertheless it is important that we get your input. I’m asking that you would contact the church office to make arrangements to get an annual report, send in your ballet for church office even if the nominee is running unopposed, and submit any concerns you would like to have brought up and discussed to your congregational president or Pastor Dan.
Yours in Christ
~Pastor Dan