Holiday Greetings

Happy Sabbath! It is sometimes hard to patiently wait on the Lord yet that is what we still must do. However I do have good news! As of December 13th, we have received $1,759.00 toward our Mexico Mission Trip Building Fund (James, aka Digit, informed me that it is 5.86% of our goal!).

Until we have more news about the mission trip, I’d like to share some thoughts God has placed on my heart. I hope they will bring you peace and a new sense of direction.

This time of year you can hear well wishes of “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Holidays”, and “Happy New Year”. Many people will go to bed on December 24th (and again on the 31st) with hope in their heart of waking up the next morning to find their life some how magically changed. Outwardly they wake to the new day with a smile on their face, but disappointment in their heart. They just can’t seem to find that ‘one thing’ to make them happy.

I suggest to you that happiness is threefold with the first step found in John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is The New Birth. It is a necessary step towards a new life, a life of joy and happiness, and it is based on receiving Christ by faith (John 1:12; 3:16).

Secondly, how happy can you be if you don’t walk in the way of the Lord? In Galatians we are told to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and live in the Spirit (5:16-23). While in Ephesians 5:1-16 God tells us to be imitators of God, walk in love, walk as children of light, and walk circumspectly. Romans 13:11-14 states that we should walk properly and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is The New Walk (Romans 6:14).

How do you walk The New Walk? By grounding yourself with the daily reading of His Word and by “reckoning yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans Chapter 6, with focus on verse 11).

The last step is The New Goal. In Philippians 3:13-14 we see that Paul had goals. He had past goals, past sins, past failures, and even past victories. He was however willing to forget the past and anything that might hinder him in his work for the Lord. He had a new goal: reaching forward to those things which are ahead. He said: “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.

What are your goals for today, tomorrow, and the upcoming New Year? Do your goals include letting go of the past? Letting go of anything preventing you from doing the work of our Lord Jesus Christ?

The wonderful results of these 3 steps are eternal salvation, a testimony to share with others, and a heavenly reward for a job well done. And on a practical note, you will wake up each morning, regardless of your circumstances, to find the joy and happiness that comes from living in the center of God’s will.

My prayer this Christmas is that you realize that your happiness won’t be found in a gift box under the tree, but through the One whose gift to us was to die on the cross of Calvary. And in the New Year, I pray that you will be blessed with true happiness!

In depth Bible studies can be found at: http://www.omalleysda.org/.