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A Meditation for the New Year

I’m sure that many of you, like myself are planning your new year. Maybe you’re setting resolutions. Or maybe you’re just so thrilled that 2020 is behind you that you plopped into 2021 just the way you are.

This year on the blog, I’m going to be sharing thoughts from my journaling and devotional life. Reading, ministry, family, and my walk with God will provide the content for these meditations.

2020 has been a year of stress, fear, lockdown, isolation, and difficulty. Too often I found myself stressed and worried. Scanning news articles, reading about politics, tracking Covid numbers, and trying to lead myself, my family and my church has resulted in anxiety, fear, and frustration. Too often I’ve not been at my best. Sometimes, I’ve been at my worst. 

If your 2020 has been anything like mine, then you are hoping for a change. But I’m not sure that what we really need is a change. What has helped me the most in recent weeks is to look at the One who never changes.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Recently, I began reading a book, The Preacher’s Catechism, that a friend gave to me more than a year ago. For those unfamiliar, a catechism is a teaching method that asks and answers questions teaching biblical truths and theological concepts. For example:

Question: Why did God create man?

Answer: God created man so that we would glorify him and enjoy him forever.

In The Preacher’s Catechism, Lewis Allen shapes the catechism method around preaching and pastoral ministry. What stood out to me is how the chapter on knowing and enjoying God intersected with a recent theme in my Christmas sermon series. The topic was joy. But how do we have joy when 2020 and so much that has shaped our experience this past year has not felt “joyful?”

C. Lewis recognized this tension when he wrote in The Problem of Pain: “I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to ‘rejoice’ as much as by anything else.”

I think the answer rests in the God who never changes and the gospel that brings us into relationship with him.

“So why single out joy when joy is so often crowded out by almost anything else? The reason is that joy, like nothing else, shows whether we believe the gospel. Joy is gospel authenticity.”

Lewis Allen, The Preacher’s Catechism, 32.

Do you believe the gospel? If you believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and he lives in you, then you have an unfathomable number of reasons to rejoice and to have joy.

Regardless of what your circumstances tell you, regardless of what is told in the media, regardless of what others are saying on social media platforms, regardless of the chaos, and regardless of how you feel, God has not changed and his gospel is ever true. Here are some reasons I’m going to rejoice heading into 2021. Maybe they’ll help you as well.

  • Because I know Jesus, I’m not alone and will rejoice in him.
  • Because God never changes and is sovereign, I will rejoice in his rule.
  • Because God speaks to me every day through his Word, I will listen and rejoice.
  • Because God hears when I pray, I will pray and rejoice.
  • Because God has provided all my needs, I will give thanks and rejoice.
  • Because God is good even though the world is evil, I will seek him and rejoice.

Why don’t you take a moment to think of some other reasons you can rejoice in God?

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Christmas Letter to My Church

The following is adapted from a letter we sent to our church congregation this Christmas season.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). These were Paul’s words from a prison cell to the church at Philippi. They are poignant and timely for us this Christmas season at Wilkesboro Baptist. 2020 has brought more than its share of frustrations, challenges, and obstacles. Yet we still have reason to rejoice. 

Please don’t read that opening paragraph and consider it insensitive. Some of us reading this letter have suffered this year (loss of loved ones, loss of employment, loss of financial security). Most of us have experienced anxieties and isolation this year. All of us have faced the unique circumstances brought on by the pandemic, political division, and interpersonal struggles. As a staff at WBC, we care deeply for you and have spent much time in prayer for you and over you this year. Yet we still have reason to rejoice. 

There are many things we miss this year. We miss a sense of normalcy in life and in church. We miss the regularity of our gatherings and the familiarity of our worship services.  But most of all, we miss each other. As your pastor, I miss seeing you on Sundays entering our sanctuary or walking through the hallways. I miss your greetings and your smiles. Yet we still have reason to rejoice. 

We can anticipate the hope around the corner—vaccines that work, the new life brought by springtime weather, a return to a familiar schedule. We can be grateful for unexpected blessings—time with family, slower pace of life, reminders of what is most important. We have reason to rejoice. 

According to Psalm 98 on which the carol “Joy to the World” is based, we have great reasons to rejoice.

  • We rejoice in God the Savior. If we have assurance of God’s forgiveness and eternal life, we can rejoice.
  • We rejoice in God the King. Because God reigns and has made us part of his kingdom, our hope rests on a more sure foundation than politicians and governments.
  • We rejoice in God the Judge. Christ will return one day in judgment and justice. That he has judged our sins already on the cross gives believers confidence and peace to face the uncertainties of tomorrow.

We have reason to rejoice that when our experience of church changed, the mission of the church did not.

It is our mission to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus.

Because of your faithfulness and generosity Wilkesboro Baptist Church has been able to support mission partners financially. Our church and mission partners have spent 2020 feeding the hungry, caring for the hurting, ministering to the lonely, counseling the broken, and spreading the good news of Jesus to the lost. I want to thank you for your words of encouragement, support, generosity, and participation in church during 2020. We are blessed that so many of you are watching, commenting, and sharing our worship services each week. Thank you for being a reason to rejoice. 

Merry Christmas!

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash