The past four days at our house have been quite interesting. Early Friday morning our oldest son woke up with a 102.7 degree fever, a terrible headache, and body aches. Later that morning he was diagnosed with the flu (ironic that he had a flu shot this season, but I’ll leave that for another blog). Will has improved steadily since then, but still has a low grade fever and all the congestion that goes along with the virus.
Our biggest challenge has been to keep him away from our 8 month old. Nathan suffered from RSV a couple of months ago and has a residual cough. The flu would be difficult on him. So, we’ve kept Will isolated in his bedroom with his germs as far away from Nathan as possible. Let’s just say that’s been a “fun” couple of days. We’ve spent a small fortune on treatments, Lysol, and sanitizer.
I’ve learned a lesson during this isolation experiment. Four year olds are not supposed to be by themselves, alone, for long periods of time. He’s been wound up and so ready to have company outside of his bedroom.
In truth, none of us are supposed to be isolated. Yes, we should have time alone with the Lord. And yes, some of us must sometimes be by ourselves. But God designed us to be around and with others. It was God himself who first uttered the words “it is not good” when he commented on Adam being alone before the creation of Eve.
So let me offer an encouragement to my readers. Don’t go it alone. You’re not meant to live in isolation. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you always have him with you. But no one should have to always be alone. That’s what Christ’s church is for. We are supposed to be friends to one another, love one another, and encourage each other through our difficulties, challenges, and circumstances. Some of you are thinking of someone who might be lonely. Reach out to them and be a friend. Some of you might be lonely and feel isolated. Please reach out to your church. If you’re not sure who can help you, ask me. If I am unable personally to meet your need, I’m sure I can find someone who can. Bottom line, isolation is not how we were intended to exist. Please don’t stay there or let someone you know stay there.
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Can you believe it? We’re a week into the New Year already. I can remember growing up how I thought time moved like molasses—very slowly. The older I get, the faster time seems to move, especially trying to keep up with my two energetic little boys. Anyway, I’m sure many of you can sympathize with the speed at which each day seems to go by. Thinking about time and all that needs to be done and all that I want to get done is a necessary and sometimes frustrating endeavor.
Someone has said that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. That insightful thought reminds us change, improvement, or movement toward sanctification happens in a process and not overnight. So, how can we grow, improve, or change in 2015? Let me offer some suggestions that I am personally going to adopt this upcoming year.
- Be consistent in Bible reading and application. Ezra 7:10 reads, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” I do read the Bible every day. I believe it is a requirement for spiritual growth. But God has been convicting me about living out what I read. So I’m going to try to apply specifically each day something I read from my devotional time.
- Grow in my prayer life. I pray every day, but the devotion, depth, and consistency of my prayer life is not what I believe God wants. I’m going to be trying something new. There are about 4-6 parts of my day that I would consider either starting points of the day or transition points (first thing in the morning, last thing at night, devotions with my family, first few minutes in my office, last few minutes in my office, etc.) My aim for 2015 is to make prayer the starting or finishing point for each of those daily transitions.
- Go on a mission trip. I’m the missions pastor at my church and annually go on a mission trip. But we are commanded by God to be on mission. One way we can all practically obey God’s commands is to set aside time, resources, and efforts to go on a mission trip.
- Read more broadly and consistently. A year ago in December, I finished a PhD, which required an enormous load of reading. While I didn’t take 2014 off from reading, I read significantly less. I’ve put together reading goals for this year that are broad and challenging.
- Be useful and give away what God is teaching me. Far too many Christians today soak in their spiritual development and inconsistently, if at all, share with others what they’ve learned. Through friendships, writing, teaching, serving, and leading God has reminded me that his followers are to invest in the spiritual lives of others.
- Share Christ personally with more consistency. I love my job and the opportunities I get to preach, teach, write, serve, lead, and share. But sometimes I’ve allowed my responsibilities within the church building to overwhelm my focus. This has at times resulted in a failure to consistently look for conversations and build relationships with those who don’t know Jesus. I know this is an area of my life that needs improvement in 2015.
- Renew my commitment to personal health. All of us have many demands on our time. But personal health is a part of spiritual health and growth. Mark Dance wrote about The Physically Healthy Pastor at Lifeway’s Pastors Today blogpost. While it’s targeted at pastors, I’m sure anyone would benefit from the principles.
These seven suggestions are in no particular order. And as a way of personal accountability, I plan to write on these topics through the year. I’ll share where some of these suggestions have worked or need to be amended (such as the prayer strategy). I also hope to share some stories where God is working in my own life teaching me important lessons in the year ahead. We’re all on a journey of spiritual growth. These are some of the suggestions I believe God is leading me to adopt this year. What about you?
chrishefner.org 