A Good Time to be a Christian
December 7, 2008
It is not extreme to assert that 2009 will be a year of great uncertainty. This morning’s news claims that more jobs were lost last month than any month since December 1974. We are feeling this in our own congregation. The stock market is not far from being half of what it was this time last year. And the shift of power in Washington marks a significantly different approach to government which leaves some hopeful and other nervous.
How do we think about the precariousness of the days ahead? The wisest words I have heard to date came from one of my mentors, who simply stated, “It is a good time to be a Christian.”
That statement is broad enough to take in 37 directions, but let me tease it out this way. 2009 will be a good year to be a Christian because we have more to read than the Arizona Republic or the Wall Street Journal. We have the eternal, unfailing, truth-telling, hope-giving, gospel-permeated word of God. We have a news source that gives us the same headline every day: through Christ’s death and resurrection, God is at work in this broken world to bring about a new creation, beginning in the lives of his people.
For all the uncertainty of 2009, we want this to be a year of having our hearts and minds saturated with the word of God. This is why we want to encourage everyone at Whitton Avenue to commit to reading through the Bible in 2009. For some of you this is a annual habit. Others have never made it all the way through. If it sounds daunting, consider that it only takes 30 minutes of reading a day for 25 days a month to read through the entire Bible in one year. You can view two very helpful methods on this website:http://www.navpress.com/dj/content.aspx?id=138 Personally, I will be using the “Book-at-a-time reading plan” as I do much better reading in two books a day than four.
In the weeks to come we will ask you to let us know if you plan to read through God’s word in 2009. We also want to provide opportunities for you to share what God is teaching you as you allow his word to shape your life.
Reading the Bible will not remove the uncertainties of 2009. But it will tune us in to that which is certain in our lives: the unfailing promises of God, the sure hope of eternal life with God that we have because of Christ, and our call to practice radical love toward those who are in need in this world. If these are our bearings, no matter how difficult 2009 proves to be, it will be a good year.
Pastor Chris