How is your New Year’s going?
How many of you have written 2010 instead of 2011 on something already? It does seem that life is speeding up doesn’t it?
In the midst of times where life continues at what appears to be a faster and faster pace, I believe that it’s important for us to make sure that we make the most out of every month…every day…every hour!
For some of us, that comes easily! We do great at setting goals, making lists, challenging others to keep up with our pace and perhaps even berating people who don’t keep up with us.
Others of us are wired differently and we kind of like to go with the flow and we like to “stop and smell the roses”. It’s easier to just get up and see what the day brings us instead of stressing about accomplishing something in particular.
As I continued researching ways for us to do better at accomplishing some of our New Year’s Resolutions or our Goals for 2011, I came across this list from Alexandra Levit. http://www.phxfocus.com/2011-01/yourcareer-2.html
She gives six great ideas (and my thoughts about her ideas) for greatly improving the odds of you following through on achieving your goals:
1. Make a Plan: think things through…don’t just do something on a whim
2. Set Micro Goals: Specific, Measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound (How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!)
3. Create a to-do list: legal pad, pictures, Blackberry, computer…somehow
4. Reward yourself: do something special along the way as you meet your goals
5. Enlist friends and family: ask them to pray with and for you; give them permission to check in on your goals; establish a network of people to encourage you (Evangelism Leadership Team email requests)
6. Consider the consequences: What happens if you don’t accomplish your goals? What happens if you get to December 2011 and haven’t achieved what you set out to do.
These are really good ideas in this process of moving ahead with what we believe God is calling each of us to do. Sometimes, I feel like “the rules” of setting New Year’s Resolutions state that we can only set these goals at the New Year’s Party we’re at or on New Year’s Day between parades and football games. However, in my research, I have not been able to find that “official rule” anywhere. So, if you’re sitting here today and wondering if it’s too late to set some goals since we’re already almost a third of the way through January, the good news is an emphatic NO!
Last week, we talked some about our need to set some goals in the Spiritual and Financial areas of our lives. Of course, I realize that each of these areas has some overlap with other areas in our life, and it’s really hard to separate these aspects into neat little compartments.
This week, I’d like for us to look at the Mental and Physical segments of our lives.
How many of you are in school this semester…grade school, jr. high, high school, college, something else? Is anybody a teacher, professor, or even trainer in their work?
I think that often times in American society, we tend to think that we only stretch or exercise our mental capabilities when we are in some kind of formal school or training situation. But, I’m not sure that’s accurate.
Recently, as we have started this “second half” of our family, I have been reminded about how much is caught in the process of life…from learning to speak to learning to shot a Nerf Dart Gun…from learning to eat baby food to learning proper table manners…from learning about mommy and daddy to learning about our Heavenly Father…from seeing others in a family reading to personally learning to hold and love books. Of course, that’s just a drop in the bucket of things that can happen without ever sitting down in a school desk.
In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul challenges us to make sure that we evaluating what is going on in our minds…not by going to a psychiatrist, but by being diligent to make sure that we are keeping our focus on godly things as we renew our minds.
Rom. 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Last week, I read some lyrics from very popular songs. And I know it is very easy for us to listen to and even join in singing songs that go against what we say we believe!
Having grown up in the church, having hung out with “good kids”, spending most of my adult years in full-time ministry, I’ve become accustomed to people speaking in certain ways. However, at my job at the Baby Fold where I work with kids who have some of the toughest emotional and behavioral issues in this region, I’ve been introduced to a whole new vocabulary by even junior high kids who can string together a very impressive list of “bad words” to call other students or even staff. There are many days that I feel the intense need to have my mind renewed by listening to music on my iPod to transform my thinking pattern back to what it was prior to being verbally assaulted!
Over in 2 Corinthians, Paul directs us to make sure that we’re obeying Christ by taking every thought captive.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
What are you thinking about right now? Are you thinking about your roast in the oven? Are you thinking about what you need to buy at the IGA with your bags so you can save $.05? Are you wondering if the preacher will be done in time for you to watch the football game (it’s OK…the noon game is only Baltimore and Kansas City…the cheese heads don’t play until 3:30)? Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive so we can follow and obey Christ.
What are you thinking about in general? Are you worried about something coming up at work? Are you contemplating getting involved in some kind of sin? Are you listening to someone’s gossip or slander? Where does your mind go when it wanders? Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive so we can follow and obey Christ.
What are you reading?
If all that you’re putting into your mind is what you get out of the Journal Star or the Pantagraph or from People Magazine or even National Geographic, it’s a pretty small world view. If you find it easier to tell me the main characters in the Twilight series than the names of Christ’s disciples…. If you can name the offensive line for the Bears, but don’t know the books of the New Testament…. If you know what Sean Hannity, Dick Durbin, Sarah Palin, or Barack Obama believe about a topic, but you aren’t listening to/reading perspectives by Godly people like John Piper, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, Jill Savage, Ravi Zacharias, and other great Christian thinkers….
In the past couple of months, I’ve been reading a few books that have been really helpful for me. One is “Extravagant Worship” by Darlene Zschech. This book stretched my thoughts about what worship is all about and it helped me focus my worship more fully on God. The writer of the famous song “Shout to the Lord” and one of the lead singers on many of the Hillsong projects also did a great job of challenging me to reevaluate why and how I enter into God’s presence to worship from a Biblical perspective.
A second book that I read recently was “From Good to Great in God’s Eyes, Ten Practices Great Christians Have in Common” by Chip Ingram. This book was one of those books that was GREAT on one hand, but also AWFUL! It was great in that it stretched my thinking about some of the goals that I need to really work on and it challenged me to several things better. It was a tough book in that parts of it were like some kind of medical diagnostic test that exposed some areas that I need to work on more. There are some of these practices that I struggle with and need to work harder at. There are aspects of these spiritual habits that really made me think long and hard.
A third book I’m currently reading is “The Church God Blesses” by Jim Cymbala at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. In this little book, my American pride and my desire to do things “my way” have been stretched as Pastor Cymbala continually drives home the point that a healthy church is totally dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit to make things happen. He ruthlessly focuses on the need that churches have on seeking the Lord in prayer and to earnestly seek the Lord in overcoming any struggles that we might be facing. Cymbala is confident that God desires to bless and assist churches no matter where they’re at physically or spiritually as long as they passionately desire God’s presence.
A fourth book that I’m in the process of reading is “One Church, Four Generations; Understanding and reaching all Ages in Your Church” by Gary McIntosh. This book is helping me understand some of the needs of different groups of people in the congregation…from those of you in your 80’s to those in your 60’s, 40’s, 20’s, or even teens and younger children. I think this book has a lot of good thoughts for a church like Goodfield Baptist where we have a few people in each of these age brackets. How do we effectively minister to each group of people while meeting their needs without neglecting other groups? How do we reach out to each of these groups with methods that are attractive to them without alienating others? How do we personally relate to people in these different groups and build relationships with them so our church has an intergenerational flavor?
I know many of us lead busy lives and it may be hard to renew our minds by taking time out to read books. However, I’ve found that like we looked at earlier, if I set specific goals to work on renewing my mind, I’ll be able to find time to read good books.
I often sit outside time out rooms when our students are unable to handle it in class for some reason or another. Often times, they will sleep for hours, and a staff person has to sit with them for 30-60 minute time blocks. I found myself often wasting that time. About 18 months ago I felt really convicted that I should be using this time better. As a result, this became one of my goals that I started working seriously on. Now, I keep a book on my desk at work so I have one to grab when I have to sit with one of my students. I also typically carry a book and my Bible in my backpack so if I have to wait for an appointment I have something to read in other situations as well.
I really want to encourage you to think about ways to renew your mind…whether by reading books, focusing your thinking when you’re being taught spiritual truths, thinking proper thoughts about others, or working to keep bad thoughts out of your life all together.
This is an area that takes a lot of work to keep focused on, so I’m confident that it is at least one of the areas that you should consider writing out a goal or two for.
Another area that we need to think about is the area of our physical health. If you remember from last week’s message, two of the top ten American New Year’s Resolutions were related to exercising more and losing weight. While there are not a lot of verses in the Scriptures that talk about physical exercising and being the ideal size with the perfect build, there are a couple of passages that talk about some of the important areas of taking care of your physical body.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul uses the example of athletes who run to encourage each of us to exercise self-control in all that we do. I find Paul’s combination of issues to be interesting! He is using the race metaphor to prove his point that we need to go through the same kind of strict training that a professional runner would go through in order to win a race as we grow in our spiritual lives.
I think that there are clear parallels here that he draws about our need to practice self-control in all areas of our life…especially in disciplining our bodies.
For instance, one of the things I REALLY like is Dr. Pepper. I could drink several at each and every meal…and probably in-between most meals. However, one of the goals that I’ve set is to reduce my intake to less than one a day. So, I’m taking strides in my self-discipline to make sure I have ice water or hot tea around me all the time so I reach for that instead of another pop to drink.
Another goal that I have is to ride my exercise bike at least five days a week. It’s been a rough goal for me to work on, but like the list of ways to achieve goals lined out earlier, I’m setting the goals and then working on it consistently…and then rewarding myself with a large Dr. Pepper after each time I ride…JUST KIDDING!
I don’t know what that means for you…are there some of these physical goals that you want to work on?
1Cor. 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
I realize that it’s a careful balance. In another passage Paul tells Timothy that while bodily training is good, it’s not as important as training to be a godly person. I have friends who would NEVER miss their morning run or their afternoon trip to the gym, but have no problem missing a daily appointment with the Lord. I have other friends who seem to have sold their souls to their kids’ travel soccer, baseball, or basketball teams such that they may miss church more than they make it during those seasons.
Am I say that playing sports is bad...absolutely not! Rather, we just need to be careful to not make the pursuit of athletics more important than our pursuit of the Lord!
1Tim. 4:6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
When I started preparing this message, I was thinking in my mind about the importance of being healthy…you know…those issues I just mentioned…exercising and losing weight. However, as I worked on the passage, I really felt like the Lord was reminding me of the many other aspects of our physical lives that we might need to include in our goals for this area of our life.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses several areas of our physical life:
Matt. 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
OK…I’ll give you a break today and not have you raise your hands in front of your friends, but if we’re honest, how many of us HAVE been worried about these things? I have had times when I have worried about all of these things! Whether it was getting laid off from Young Life due to the economical issues several years ago…but God provided a man in our church who had a Hostess cupcake route, and he traded cupcakes to a bread truck driver to get us bread, and a farmer friend gave us fresh milk!
I get concerned each week about what to wear to preach in…does this look appropriate, does it need to be ironed, wait…did I wear this last week or the week before? Is it a “cool enough brand”?
I worry about the length of life for others and myself. About 11 weeks ago, the doctors gave Karen’s dad 8 weeks to live due to his cancer. So, worrying about that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference either does it?
These physical aspects of our life are the things that many of us worry about…will I have a job in this economy, will my retirement account last, will there even be Social Security for me to retire on, what happens if my company goes bankrupt, and on and on those questions about money can go on and on.
But what does Jesus say? Seek HIS Kingdom first and all of these other things will be taken care of…our food, things to drink, our clothes, our life, our finances, etc…. God already knows what we need, and HE will take care of us.
Again, as in the words from Paul, Jesus reminds us that while the physical aspects of our life are important, we need to keep in mind that God is still in control and He is the one taking care of us.
It’s very important to be careful and to be a wise steward of our health and our physical possessions, but ultimately our spiritual health is most important.
So, as we’ve looked at four areas of our lives, I do want to encourage us to evaluate the issues in our lives where we need to set some realistic and achievable goals so that we can keep focusing on becoming more and more like our Savior and to honor Him with our spiritual growth, our finances, our mental focus, and even our physical lives.
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