It’s a New Year

Well, the holidays are past.  I still don’t have my tree and Christmas decorations put away, but some of my nativity sets are safely packed away.

In the last post I had talked about simplifying the holidays, in order to concentrate on what is the reality of Christmas — that God became a baby, in order to die a horrid death on a Roman cross, thus satisfying the Father’s wrath against sin, paying our debt completely, so that we might be reconciled to God.  I still can’t wrap my human brain around the extent of that love. . .

Along with the new year, come our thoughts and resolutions (if you will) for what we would like to accomplish in the coming year.  Lose weight?  Exercise more?  Correspond more frequently with loved ones and distant friends?  Be more faithful in prayer?  More disciplined in Bible study?

I found this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran pastor during the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany.  He spoke out against Hitler, and the Nazi treatment of the Jews and other people groups who suffered under Hitler’s policies.  He was arrested, spent some time in a concentration camp, and was ultimately tortured and executed as a traitor in 1945, shortly before the end of World War II.

“It is not necessary that we should discover new ideas in our meditation. It is sufficient, and far more important, if the Word, as we read and understand it, penetrates and dwells within us.”   Life Together

When I read God’s Word, I don’t want to read with the goal of “getting through this so I can check off that I did today’s reading.”  I want the Word of God to transform my thinking which will transform my doing.

James 1:22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. . .(NLT)

And, I want to be more consistent in blogging . . .