'What is your life?'

December 31, 2024, New Year's Eve. This is what I have from the Lord for right now: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. "But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:1-17). Those verses give us plenty to think about when starting a new year and plenty of instruction on which to base New Year's Resolutions if one is so inclined. Typically, there is a trend at year's end to sum up the events of the year. I remember having to do that in newspaper work. You know, list all the things that happened in the year that's ending. I don't want to do that. You might want to, but I'm thinking about what does God want me to do in this moment? And I ask him, and he drops "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2) into my head, and when I open my Bible and start reading from the first verse all the way through verse 17 I see so much beauty, so much wisdom, and so much love to reflect on. I don't know if I even have the discernment to reflect on what God's done in my life this year, but I know he's done a lot, because that's what he does. Paul wrote to the Philippians that, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 1:6) I trust that Christ is changing me according to his word, conforming me into his image, even if I may not notice a huge difference, and maybe others won't either. We are told to examine ourselves. I know that reading those verses there are things I need to change. The things we need to change are not things most people living in the world probably worry about too much. When we were living in the world, we never gave these things a second thought because we had very little idea what God wanted from us. In the world we did everything the world did, hoping to get something out of it, pretty much the same things over and over, going from one thrill to another, or one heartache to another, or just getting through life from day to day, looking for something perhaps and not knowing what it was we were looking for. You read about people who love to take terrible risks. I guess it's for the emotional high that it gives, but are they thinking about what happens if they die in the process? We've all heard people say, "Well, he died doing what he loved." Is that it? Is that all there is? Doing what you love and then die, and then what? Notice where it says, " When Christ who is our life appears" (Colossians 3:4) then you will also appear with Him in glory." Who is our life? What is our life? It was once a vapor but now it is Christ. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrgance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin'" (James 4:12-17). I talk about this a lot but I think it was really significant that I saw "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) inside a city bus as an elementary school child, and it grabbed me in such a way that I can't fully describe because I did not know what it meant but I knew that something greater than me was talking to me. I saw the picture of Christ standing on a mountain teaching his disciples, and though I didn't understand it then, I know now it was the actual Lord calling me to follow him. It was many years later when I came to know the Lord, was born again, gave my life to Christ, was converted, enlightened, translated from darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, I became a child of God. The old soul who I was died and was raised up to new life in Christ. I died and my life is "hidden with Christ in God." I was transformed and the process of change continues every day, even when I'm asleep. I know that if I go to bed early tonight, the neighborhood will explode in fireworks at midnight and wake me up, so I'm not in a huge hurry to go to bed early, but I would kind of like to. The grocery store was completely insane when I thought to go to Dillon's and buy some things to make some soup. I left without buying anything and just came home and ate something I had in the house. So everybody will be celebrating New Year's Eve however they are accustomed to celebrate it. A lot of alcohol will be involved, I'm sure, in most people's New Year's Eve celebration. I hope everybody gets home safely and has a peaceful sleep after all the hoopla. I remember not a lot of New Year's Eve celebrations. I remember one. The night I met my boyfriend in high school. It was a blind date with another couple. We were boyfriend and girlfriend for four years. I don't want to carry on about that, but that's the only New Year's Eve celebration I really remember, the smell of English Leather and what a nice guy I lost. Oh, well,I said I wasn't going to reminisce, and I am not. I am going to close this and leave you with the thought of setting your mind on things above and not on things on the earth. That's really all I have for tonight. Happy and Prosperous New Year to you! Goodnight!