Starting All Over Again

"Happy New Year," we cheerfully greet each other. Or as Jose Feliciano sings in Feliz Navidad, "y prospero ano nueva," a prosperous new year. There's a chill in the air. Everyone, well many people, are still cheerful with the Christmas spirit. The old year and all of its troubles, well, some of its troubles, are gone and a new year has just begun.

The new year is the baby with its future all ahead of it. What are you going to make of it? Or, what is it going to bring to you? Or, perhaps more accurately, what are you going to make of whatever it brings to you?

There is really nothing magical or special about the beginning of a new year, other than its position at the beginning of a new calendar. We can start over at any point that we determine we are going to do so. But traditionally, the beginning of a new year is a time for making resolutions and setting goals, for starting over.

There will be a thousand people out there (or more?) with suggestions for you to follow to have a better life this year than last year. You will be encouraged to begin excercising, or to begin running as your means of excercising. You will be encouraged to begin a new diet and given many suggestions for which one of the 2,786 diets out there is the one you should follow. You will be told that you should read books, including this or that self-help book, that you should take up playing a musical instrument, and the list can go on almost forever.

But I've got a suggestion that is better than any of these, or any like these. It's not better because its mine, because really, its not mine. It's one that was given to me years ago and that I've followed ever since. Sometimes I've done pretty well, other times, not so much. The difference in the suggestion I hope you'll consider here and suggestions like those I've mentioned above is direct and simple. Every suggestion above, and all like them, regardless of their source, are of short term significance. Even if you stay with them as long as you live, they will have an end date.

The suggestion I want to make is eternal in its import. It will last with you for all the days of your life, and will sustain you even after you are no longer living on this earth. My suggestion is that you give your life over to God and to His Son, Jesus. I can even give you a motto for a sticky post on your mirror. It comes straight out of Romans 12:1, "Present your body a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God."

Please, I'm really begging you (actually, that is what Paul said in Romans 12 before the words I quoted above) that you give this a serious effort. God created us. He knows what makes us tick better than we do. The things that He asks us to do are for our own good. Many times that will not be obvious to us, but the reason He asks us to do things is because our best interests are His only concern for us.

When you buy a new car it comes with an owners manual. It tells you the best practices for properly maintaining your vehicle; when to change the oil, how much oil to use, what kind of oil to use, what kind of brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, the size of replacement tires, the proper inflation of the tires, and the list goes on. It covers many other facets of your vehicle, explaining the care each should receive. If the vehicle comes with a warranty that warranty will most likely be voided unless you adhere to the guidelines of the owner's manual.

The owner's manual receives its authority and authenticity due to its being made by the same company, or people, that made the car. Their engineers designed the car and created its specifications. Their workers built and assembled the parts, and their technicians maintain it. There is no more appropriate source for an owners manual than the company that makes the car.

God is the "company" that made you. He designed and "manufactured" you according to His purposes. He also provided an owner's manual for your life. We call it the Bible. It is the only authentic and therefore authoritative source on how best to care for and maintain you. No other "self-help" book comes close.

If you doubt, if you are uncertain, or if this sounds good to you but you're not sure of your ability to sustain a commitment, I am begging you. Give yourself a chance. Give God a chance. Let's study and contemplate God's word and His directives for living our lives. Through the course of a year there's no telling how far we can go.

What I'm asking you is between you and God. I'll never know. Consider the subjects and ideas presented here. They will not originate with me. They will be from God's word, always parallel and never contradictory. If that is not the case, I certainly hope someone will tell me.

I'm anxious to get this journey started, or to continue it, as the case may be. I'll be right here, Trying to Walk, with more thoughts and ideas from God's word every Monday morning. Please join me. Bring a friend. Let's grow together in God's kingdom, the only thing that really matters, because everything else that matters is wrapped up in God's kingdom. Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you."

• I'm really excited to have the opportunity to be doing this. Its my goal to provide content that is beneficial for you. I know there are so many topics to consider that they can't all be covered at once. But have patience, there are many topics tugging at me and I hope to cover as many as possible. Please e-mail me (jeff@tryingtowalk.com) and send me suggestions for topics you would like to have discussed. Or ask questions and I'll give you a Bible-based answer.

• Additionally, I would like to ask you to invite others to join us. You may have friends that could profit from our time together here. Or maybe you know somebody who could benefit even if they're not a friend. It's not much of a commitment, really, about 5 or 6 minutes out of a whole week. The only reason I would love to see more readers is because the more that read, the better chance that what has been written can be profitable for someone. Please understand, that I make absolutely zero return on this effort. The only return I want is to have helped somebody gain a closer relationship with God as they are Trying to Walk with Him