Happy New Year 2022

I’m writing this on January 1, 2022 - can you believe it!  This was the second time I slept through the change of the calendar year.  This morning, however, I noticed that my children did not miss out on the sparkling cider just because I wasn’t downstairs to pour it!  This is the day we set our goals for the new year into motion - or maybe you wait until January 2, if one of your goals is to eat less!  

My goals from year to year tend to center around similar themes - my weight, my writing, and my faith.  For the past several years, my goal has been to weigh less on Dec. 31, than I did on Jan. 1.  That’s a goal I can meet regardless of what happens throughout the year.  In 2020 I set a goal that I would not start any new book projects.  The Holy Spirit later convicted me of that goal, and I wrote my first novel in 10 years!   My faith goal has been that I would continue with Bible Study Fellowship for a full 10 years to complete each study.  This is my eighth year now as we study Matthew. ​

Although I’ve been in Bible study for eight years, and have attended church all my life, I am still being sanctified - growing in my knowledge and understanding of the Word of God.  Matthew’s account of Jesus has challenged my thoughts and beliefs in ways I didn’t foresee.  I have realized that I misinterpreted the Beatitudes.  It’s not “blessed are those who mourn” the loss of a loved one, but mourn because they know they are sinful and need a savior.  I am seeing through Matthew that our salvation must be a heart change, not just a behavior change.  Our whole attitude towards sin should change once we are saved.  It’s easy not to steal, but it’s not as easy not to consider it when stealing can occur in so many ways!  It’s easy not to commit physical murder, but not so easy to avoid psycohological murder.  We can muder someone with our words, with our attitude towards them; with a social media post that offends - all of that could be murder.  “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  (Matthew 7:14)

Matthew 13 contains two parables.  Jesus told parables to help people understand His message.  Think of a parable as a story that has a moral. 

~Matthew 13:3-9
3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

If you attend church each week, or watch an evangelist on TV, participate in a Bible Study, or read a daily devotion, I ask you to consider where the seed falls.  The seed is the Word of God.  It’s available to us all.  When it comes to you, does it fall along the path where the birds can eat it?  Does it go in one ear and out of the other?  Does it fall on rocky places - do you have a hard heart that blocks the Word from taking root?  Does it fall on shallow soil, spring up quickly, then wither in the sun?  Do you participate and believe in the culture more than the Word of God?  Or does your heart represent good soil?  Are you being sanctified and actively sharing the Word producing a crop larger than yourself? 

~Matthew 13: 24-30
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?  Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.  “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

In this parable, Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven, or His followers, His disciples as the people who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Right there growing alongside the good wheat seeds are the weeds.  They look very similar, but they are not the same.  The weeds are from the evil one.  The weeds can represent people who believe in cultural ideals, false gods, don’t believe in anything, etc.  The weeds and the wheat will be together until the harvest, at which point the weeds will be burned, and the wheat will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

When we look at these parables together, I ask you to consider two things.   1) Are you allowing the Word of God to change you?  Even if you are saved, spending time in the Word, should still bring you fresh thoughts and challenges.  No one is righteous, no not one.  2) Are you a part of the Kingdom of Heaven?  If there is any hesitation in your response, you have some work to do.  You must spend time in the Word and less time in the world so that the Word has “good soil” to penetrate.  You may have already considered your goals for 2022, but if you are not actively being changed and challenged by the Word and/or you are not certain that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, you may want to make that your goal for 2022.  And yes, it is urgent!  We are in our second year of a pandemic, people are dying everyday, and some of them do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  If you know Him, but not well enough to share Him with others, you need to grow in that area.  

For 2022, if the Holy Spirit will allow, I intend to publish a monthly message rather than a weekly message, as I have for the past 4 years.  I have multiple writing projects that I have begun, but need time to finish.  It’s my intention to work on these in 2022.  I have also realized that my outreach needs to be more than through writing.  I need to be out in my community showing love and sharing God’s word.  By moving to a monthly message, it is my prayer that God will give me more opportunities to share the Gospel bringing more people into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Your prayers will be greatly appreciated.  If you need me to help you grow, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, I will be happy to help you grow to know Him as I do.   Amen.