“ … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37, 38)
When you get where you are going, where will you be? Everybody is going somewhere! So what is your goal … your primary purpose and objective? Why are you living on this earth?
Questions … questions … questions! Those who have known me for any length of time know I am synonymous with questions. Why is that??? In self-defense … the reason so many questions are asked is that’s how we find out things.
Jesus asked a lot of questions during His short three to three and a half years of sharing His Father’s message here on earth. He asked those questions so often in order for those who heard them to then look within themselves … to learn about themselves!
And that my friends, is exactly what I have tried to do all of these years in my teaching and preaching … help others to look within themselves … even as I am to do myself!
As disciples of Christ we need to know where we are going. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
As disciples of Christ, we must have the goal of being like Him clear in our minds. Without clarity and purpose … well, our lives will be lived without direction and the discipline that are to characterize God’s people who are making their way home to Him!
The apostle Paul made it very clear to the brethren who comprised the local congregation of God’s people in Rome that it was God’s purpose all along that men should choose to become more like His Son!
“For those whom He foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29, ESV)
You see … it takes more than resolution … it takes conformity to be more like Jesus. God has never expected more of mankind than any of us can measure up to or somehow satisfy. But make no mistake … He does expect us to give Him our very best and strive … labor … stretch ourselves out with every fiber of our being to become more like His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ!
If we want to know how to conduct our everyday living moments … then we must look in God’s Book and see how Jesus handled everyday life moments. He is our perfect example of how to live, serve, and leave this world! He is how we find and enter by the narrow gate!
Even as the old hymn states,
“More about Jesus would I know,
more of His grace to others show,
more of His saving fullness see,
more of His love who died for me.”
“More about Jesus let me learn,
more of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.”
“More about Jesus in His Word,
holding communion with my Lord;
hearing His voice in every line,
making each faithful saying mine.”
Yes, indeed! These could bring us a long way toward being conformed to the image of His Son!
Our Heavenly Father wants us to have as our principle goal at the first of every New Year and every new day of the coming year to be that the image of His Son is reflected every day of our lives … in every relationship … in every thought, word and deed!
It’s more than a Resolution … It’s our Destination!
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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