The year is coming to a close and a brand new year is ahead of us, but before we step into it perhaps right now would be a good time to stop and assess what we are planning on taking with us into the New Year.
What hopes, dreams and goals are we carrying forward, and what baggage, weights and burdens are we still dragging along with us that we need to drop off? What sort of life are we living, and what things from the past do we want to be free of for our future?
Everyone who has a heartbeat has life in the sense of physical existence, but God wants more than just for us to be breathing. He has a plan and purpose for each of us and Jesus said quite plainly that He came to give us fullness and abundant life “(John 10:10) The Greek word translated “life” is ZOE. It’s a small Greek word with a big meaning.
Zoe is not just life as we think of it (living or being alive), but means eternal life; an absolute fullness of life. It is life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in this world, but also with a confidence and expectation of eternity spent with Jesus.
God wants us to experience life as He intended it to be. Jesus came not only to save people from the torment of eternal hell but also to give a God-kind of life, in abundance. It’s not just waiting for people when they die and go to heaven, but for right now.
However it’s our choice. If you have asked Jesus into your life then LIFE (ZOE) has been deposited in your spirit. But our souls, our thoughts, our emotions and consequently our actions need that God kind of life constantly flowing into them. We are surrounded by the world’s way of doing and thinking, and that’s often not God’s idea of life.
But we can release this ZOE life and enjoy it now. One of the ways we do that is by letting go of our old way of doing and thinking, and any thoughts, emotions, or actions that are contrary to Gods Word. We let go of disappointments, un-forgiveness, bitterness, hurts, loss, and lack and immerse ourselves in what God says in His word, in spending time in His presence, in being with others who want His life too, and in doing what He says everyday.
Hebrews 12:1 in the Bible says ”Let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings and entangles us, and let us run…. Looking away from all that will distract us to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith”.
“But one thing I do, forgetting those thing which are behind and reaching forward to those thing which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 3:12-14)
I encourage you to take an inventory of how you have been living. What do you want more of, and what do you want less of? How do you want your future to look?
Ask yourself honestly have you merely being existing, and if so, do you want God’s abundant and overflowing life instead? Because that sort of life starts everyday by choosing to let go of the past and our way of doing things, and seeking and focusing on the life God says we were made to live and that He has on offer.
Take some time today to stop; to assess and to let go if necessary. Make some plans, seek after God, and start running into the New Year.
Prayer: Lord thank you for all that you have done in my life over the past year. Please help me to assess my life and see where I need to offload some things, and what I need to focus upon so that I can look forward to the future with an expectation of good things. In Jesus name Amen.
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