Pastors Thoughts

January 2016

January, by virtue of its placement in our calendar, is a month of new beginnings. Some of what we carry with us from 2015 is beyond our choosing. Matters such as age, disease, and personal obligations, along with memories whether bad or good automatically follow us into the New Year. Having said that there are some things we can and should choose to leave behind as we embrace the month of January. I’ll share a few of my thoughts but don’t allow my extremely limited list to hinder you from your own thoughts of what many call baggage.

Let me begin the list with a tremendous hindrance to soul health, that being our hurt feelings. It amazes me to see the affects that past negative experiences can have on one’s life. Why do people choose to allow a past event, misunderstanding, or difference of opinion to continue to alter their present behavior in a negative way? I know people who refuse to step foot in a church because someone having a bad day at church didn’t smile and pat them on the head when they were a kid. Now get this, those same people go time and time again to watch their favorite team lose game after game that they should win, leaving them frustrated, sad, and somewhat angry and yet they are right there the next week as if nothing bad had happened. Now think about that, supporting a team playing a game, and supporting the church that promotes the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please let those petty issues stay in 2015, choose to begin 2016 with a heart no longer bound by their influence.

My second item in which I suggest we abandon this January would be, good intentions left undone. Abe Lincoln once stated something along the line of, “the greatest time wasted is the time getting started”. If something needs to be done, do it. If you need to get your finances in order, then have the self discipline to budget your income and control your expenditures. If your house stays a mess, get the family together make a plan, find a place for everything you need and THROW THE REST AWAY!  If you are overweight, smoking, drinking, or misusing medications stop talking about changing and change! Stop lying to yourself, saying you are going to do this or that and then never making an effort. Quit wasting time, get started, it is January you know!

Now the last item on this short list of mine is ungodly attitudes. Now this is a very difficult choice to make. It is difficult because we have to first look for our own imperfections. Self examination is never pleasant if done realizing God knows our heart. We tend to compare ourselves to others, seeing their faults and never our own. We even become desensitized to our own bad attitudes and when and if they are exposed, we simply make excuses as if that in some way justifies our actions. The problem is when they exist, whether we acknowledge them ourselves or not, they paint a vile and offensive self-portrait in the eyes of all in whom we come in contact.

Jesus specializes in deliverance. He not only delivers us from sin, He can remove hurt feelings and restore relationships if we let Him have His way in our hearts.  He can and will lead us into a more productive and healthy lifestyle if we humble ourselves enough to allow Him to change our good intentions into good behavior. But best of all, Jesus specializes in heart surgery; He can remove the vile and offensive and replace it with the fruit of the Spirit, which will assure our success in living a spiritually productive life in 2016. Making good choices and acting upon them will take the wishfulness right out of a happy New Year. So dear reader, don’t procrastinate any longer start making good decisions today!

Pastor Goins

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