Resolves for the New Year

(Katie) Happy Sabbath! I am still sick, even by my best attempts to rest. I am learning how awful I am at resting. Hopefully healing is on its way soon, before I go completely stir crazy. As I look outside, I am reminded that we are entering a new season. My "new" year if you will starts at the beginning of school year, rather than on New Years. As I've spent time praying and asking the Lord what He wants me to focus on this season, the Lord highlighted some areas to which I hesitantly accepted and then today during church, Jonathon's message confirmed that I've got some hard work ahead of me. Thank goodness for God's grace.

I want to encourage each of you to spend time praying into each of these values, "search me God and know my heart..." its a scary prayer to pray, especially in regards to the areas below.

1. HUNGER- stewarding a desire for more of God. Matthew 5:6 reveals that our hunger level is directly related to the extent of our filling. If you want more of God's presence in your life, we have to honestly ask ourselves, how hungry are you? Jonathon challenged us today to identify "hot coals" in our community, people who are hungry for Jesus and pursuing Him with their whole hearts. Going back to a previous blog, these are the kinds of people we want to yolk ourselves to in relationship. James and I desire to love whoever God puts in front us, however, we are only going to yolk ourselves in covenant with people who are hungry and radically pursuing after God. Finally, we were encouraged to feed our hunger...through prayer, worship music, community....be intentional about taking time in your day to pursue things that cause you to hunger more for God. My husband is an inspiration to me because every morning he starts his day in the prayer chapel next to our apartment on his knees before the Lord. I don't get any attention from James in the morning until he has spent quality time with God. James models for me what it means to be jealous of our time with God and the more time he spends with the Lord, his hunger increases. I am much more easily distracted in the mornings, but am grateful that my husband models for me the kind of intentionality and jealousy that I want to have with the Lord.

2. HUMILITY- "living as a learner, not an expert." We are called to be disciples and that word is translated as "learner." This is a definite area of growth for me in that while I love learning, pursuing my second Master's degree can often cause me to believe that I am well educated and have the answers. Are we (am I) humble enough to learn from those around us (me)? I think humility is also manifested when we are quick to apologize for both the pain we've caused others, both knowingly and unknowingly, and our actual offense. I don't know about you, but I want to become someone that cares more about the quality of my relationships than being right. I want to become someone who takes the initiative in asking for forgiveness and has a posture of heart that is willing to hear criticism. I am learning to take criticism before the Lord and ask Him what I need to learn rather than defending myself or assuming the other person is wrong. 


3. GRACE- "freedom from performance based religiosity: judgement, unforgiveness, and comparison." When Jonathon shared this definition this morning, my heart sunk as I think this is my biggest area of growth. Since most of us are more familiar with judging and unforgiveness, I want to focus on comparison. When we really understand the grace of God, I think we get to a place where we can genuinely CELEBRATE the uniqueness of someone else. No matter how gifted, beautiful, ___________, someone else is we can fully rest in knowing that we are absolutely LOVED by the Father in our own uniqueness. God's love is not a love of exclusion, but there is enough for ALL of us. We are not better or worse than others, because the truth is, we are ALL recipients of the gift of God's grace. I believe that community suffers when we focus more on others than on God. When you feel tempted to compare or judge another person, I am learning to pause and invite God into what is going on in my heart. Where is that coming from? What am I fearful of? What is the root of that? God made us and therefore knows us better than we know ourselves. Inviting Him into those moments will bring clarity and truth. 


Well, since this blog is getting long, I will wait to present the other values for another time. But I hope these first 3 are as challenging to you as they were for me to receive this morning. I think starting this new year off by going back to the basics is HUGE. I think we often try to focus on more complicated things when in actuality, the core values needed for a solid foundation are lacking. I am grateful to ACC and to be a part of a community that is resolved about hungering for more of God, being of a humble posture, and a community of grace.