Another Year Unfolds Before Us

Another year unfolds before us -- how will we use it? What opportunities will present themselves to us this year? How will we respond to life's challenges?

These and many other questions confront us daily. We are always being questioned by or about something. The manner in which we respond is an excellent measure or indicator of what type of person we are. It is also a good yard stick by which others may often measure our character.

Forget New Years resolutions. Often they are broken before we finish making them. Endeavor to follow the teaching of God. Follow His Word given in the Bible. When we take upon ourselves to follow the traditions of men, we are asking for trouble, for man is trouble, weakness and evil. God is righteous, holy and just. He is a loving Father to His children; He will never lead them astray. Not so with man. He will mislead others in order to entangle them with the same problems and sins he is in. And there is a reason for this: misery loves company.

As we enter into the new year let us do so with a renewed zeal of the Lord, a zeal to follow His teachings, to live more closely to Him, to be more compassionate to our fellowman, to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. Anyone can be a problem, but it takes a special kind of person to be part of the solution.

As we look forward let us look with renewed faith in the Lord and in His kingdom in the world. As we enter upon the activities of the Church, may we do so with a dedication never before found among His people. We ought to be totally dedicated to serving Him with our very being. Everything else should fall away as we live our life in His service. If we live this way we will find that we are happier at home, with friends, at work, wherever we go and in whatever we are doing. To serve God is to live our life away from sin. We ought never to follow the pathway of sin but we should walk in the road of life as Jesus laid it out before us that we should walk therein.