Sunday, December 31, 2017

Excellency of Power . . . . New Years 2018 Message


Brothers and Sisters, As we are about to celebrate the (secular) New Years, it goes without saying that the vast majority of us wish for better things in the coming year.  As a result, many of us make "New Years Resolutions" and promises of things that we will do better  . .  . or do differently . . . in the coming year.  More than likely, most of these resolutions fall by the wayside after days or weeks into the new year.  But the point is still the same . . . . . as human beings we want better things for not only ourselves but for our loved ones as well.   We want to do better.  We want to act better.  We want to be better.   As human beings, though, we are prone to failure on a frequent basis.  We intend to do good but we end up failing.  As a result we get frustrated through our failure and simply quit trying altogether.  Think of the person, for example, who resolves to stop smoking in the coming new year.  Their intention is marvelous.  Their resolve is to be commended.  And yet when the urge is too great and they break their resolution, they become frustrated and convinced that they can not do it and give up altogether.  How many of us wish that we could do things better . .  . not just in the new year, but throughout the year.  How many of us wish that we could change things for the better?  How many of us, quite frankly, work and work and work on better results in our life and are often left feeling depressed and rejected when we fail?  I remember as a teenager growing up working on a school project.  I was making some sort of model or a model building.  I can not really remember what the exact project was but I do remember clearly my repeated frustration in attempting to put together the model and it kept breaking time and time and time again.  You see, I finally discovered after repeated failures that the materials I was using in making the project were not strong enough.  As a result I had to find something to make the materials stronger so that the project would hold up under the weight and strain.  After this, the project came out beautifully.  But prior to that I was pulling my hair out after repeated failure after failure after failure.

We hear in the Fourth Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians:  "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."  (II Corinthians 4:7)    As human beings we are weak; we fail; we are lacking; in short, human beings are not perfect.  We resolve to do good but we more often than not miss the mark.  As faithful Christians we know that our success comes through Our Heavenly Father.  In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, we also read:  "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."  (I Corinthians 2:5)  Any wisdom that we have comes from the Almighty.  Any power that we have comes to us from up above.  Any skill, any success, any blessing that we possess was given to us by God. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; our sufficiency is of God."  (II Corinthians 3:5)   In this new year, let us acknowledge the fact that our blessings come to us from God.  Let us acknowledge those gifts and continually give thanks to Our Heavenly Father for all the blessings that He bestows upon us.  And let us resolve to use the skills that God gives to each one us to do His will here on earth.

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