Watch out!  You’re a sitting duck!  Christmas is past and you’re looking ahead to the new year.  That makes you a target!  As you look back at your year and set goals for the next, you’ll hear that familiar voice in your head.  “You’ll never be able to do that.  You’ve tried this before and look at all your past failures.  Every time you get yourself psyched up for success, you end up disappointed.  Besides, other people do that better than you.  You can’t compete.  Who do you think you are?!  Remember all the things you need to succeed and don’t have?  How could you ever overcome all the obstacles?  You simply don’t have the resources necessary.  Might as well just throw in the towel right now.”  

When our children were growing up in the jungle of a third world country, one of their favorite friends was a little boy named John.  He had a winsome smile and a twinkle in his eye.  We were living in a tiny community where the people lived in bark huts and often ate just white rice and jungle ferns.  John’s great-grandfather had been a headhunter.  He slept on a skull and lined his doorway with skulls.  But a missionary brought John’s grandfather the Good News that God loved him and had a better way to live.  His grandfather stopped living the old way.  John’s father followed in his father’s good footsteps and as a young man began to serve others, eventually becoming a skilled aircraft mechanic who worked alongside Husband. Together they kept the small aircraft in tip-top shape that connected remote villages to help from the outside.  Their planes carried the desperately ill to a mission hospital, teachers who brought big ideas, and best of all those who brought the Good News.  

John grew up seeing his father and his father’s foreign friends serving the poor and forgotten.  Two weeks ago on FaceBook, we reconnected with John who is now grown with a family of his own.  Guess what John is doing?  The boy who grew up in a small, poor community but with a wealth of good examples?  He is serving others.  First with World Relief helping to stop HIV in the remote highlands of his country.  And now on another island where most have yet to hear the Good News that they don’t have to stay stuck in old ways.  He is fluent in English and works with internationals to bring good to his country.

John’s grandfather didn’t listen to the lies of the enemy of our souls. Satan loves to tell us that we’re hopeless, that we will never change and grow.  We’re doomed to go in circles of frustration, making small improvements, but never actually becoming the strong, courageous, fulfilled humans we want to be.  But if we read the Bible, our minds and hearts will be renewed and we will believe that we are actually destined by our good Father to take on the family resemblance of his dear Son.  We are meant to be strong, courageous and successful at being all he formed us to be.  Think of the power of these two mindsets!  Satan wants us to think negatively.  He labels it “thinking practically and realistically”.  God wants us to think positively.   He will give us direction and power to accomplish goals that last into the next life.  God is fully capable of making us all he intends for us to become even if we start out as headhunters!

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”  Hebrews 10:23-25

“Hold tightly to the hope, for God can be trusted.”  We met our son’s future mother-in-law today.  We really wanted to get to know her so we asked her questions about her life and listened carefully.  Suddenly she stopped and apologized for talking so much.  But we assured her that the only way we would get to know her was to listen to her tell us about herself.  It’s the same way with God. The way we get to know God is by reading what he says about himself in the Bible.  He tells what he is like and how he feels about us.  The more we get to know God, the more we trust him. 

“Acts of love and good works”. Not just words of love, but words backed up by acts of love.  No one is more miserable than the person who doesn’t invest time and effort into those God has put in their lives.  

“Let us think of ways to motivate each other…encourage one another .”  Not one of us is strong enough alone to stay on course.  Even sports that aren’t team sports require at least one other person to guide and encourage, a coach.  We need to spend time with others who will motivate us and encourage us and we them.  One way to be motivated and encouraged is to read inspirational articles and books.  It can seem impossible to find time to read.  But if you read about 250 words a minute and you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to uplifting reading to deepen your faith, in one year (365 days) you would read for 5,475 minutes. Multiply that times 250 words per minute and you get 1,368,750 words per year. Now most books have between 300 and 400 words per page. So, if we take 350 words per page and divide that into 1,368,750 words per year, we get 3,910 pages per year. This means that at 250 words a minute, 15 minutes a day, you could read about 20 average-sized books a year!  1.

“…don’t neglect meeting together”. Nothing is quite like being with others who are growing in God.  Church services help us see new truth and apply it to our lives.  Small group Bible studies allow us to discuss issues and hear examples of how God is showing up in our friends’ lives.  Caring conversations one on one provide support and encouragement even (especially) when we’re struggling.  

What are you yearning to do, but the enemy keeps hissing in your ear, “You’re not good enough.  You don’t have enough.  You can’t.”?  Will you put your eyes on the Pioneer of our faith and follow him into your best year ever?

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God…
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.”  Hebrews 10:2-3, 12-13

1.  John Piper https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/25-christian-books-i-love-to-recommend?

Duck photo credit A. Kahler